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Afghan gov't could be ready by year's end

KOENIGSWINTER, Germany (CNN) -- A senior diplomat at talks here on an interim government for Afghanistan said Sunday participants were hopeful such a body could begin rule by the end of the year.

Four Afghan factions were studying a U.N. proposal Sunday night for a 29-member ruling group -- part of a larger interim authority -- that would be composed of a chairman, five deputy chairmen, and 23 council members.

The proposal does not specify who would serve in what job, and delegates meeting for a sixth day outside Bonn were struggling to identify who would be named to any group formed.

The proposed agreement calls for multinational peacekeepers in Kabul, the capital, and other areas as a security measure.

The interim administration would be in power for six months, or until a special commission could convene an emergency loya jirga -- or traditional Afghan council -- U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters Sunday.

A transitional government would precede the establishment of any final council, he said. No one would serve in both the interim government and the commission choosing the loya jirga, he said.

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During the interim, a supreme court and other entities would be convened, according to Fawzi. A commission to draft a new constitution would be created within two months, he said.

The proposal contains no provisions for amnesty for human rights violations.

Parts of Afghanistan's 1963 constitution -- in place during the monarchy -- were used to create the draft proposal, a source said, although no formal role for exiled King Mohammed Zahir Shah was envisioned in a new government.

Referring to a key hurdle in the process, Fawzi said Sunday, "There is an important missing link here -- the names."

As to the draft agreement, Fawzi said, "We hope that they will all find it acceptable."

But he underscored the tentative nature of the proposal. "As they say, it's not final until it's final," Fawzi said.

U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi presented the seven-page draft agreement Sunday to the groups meeting at the Petersberg Hotel outside Bonn.

In addition to the Northern Alliance delegation, the three groups at the table are the Rome delegation representing Zahir Shah, the "Peshawar Group," representing the millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and the "Cyprus Group," representing an Iranian-backed group of Afghan exiles.

-- Berlin Bureau Chief Bettina Luescher and Correspondent Jim Bittermann contributed to this report.