Iraq Shi’ite leader calls for own region in south

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF (Reuters) – An Iraqi Shi’ite leader said on Thursday
Shi’ites should have their own federal region taking in all of
the Shi’ite areas in oil-rich southern Iraq.

“Regarding federalism, we think that it is necessary to
form one entire region (in the central and southern part )of
the south,” said Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of one of the
Shi’ite parties leading the government.

His comments came shortly after the commander of his
Iranian-trained Badr movement militia said Shi’ites should have
their own federal zone in the south.

“Federalism has to be in all of Iraq. They are trying to
prevent the Shi’ites from enjoying their own federalism,” Hadi
al-Amery, head of the Badr movement, told tens of thousands of
Shi’ites gathered in the sacred southern city of Najaf.

“We have to persist in forming one region in the south or
else we will regret it. What have we got from the central
government except death?” he said.

The calls for a southern Shi’ite region come at a critical
time when Iraqi leaders are scrambling to finish a draft
constitution to submit to parliament before a self-imposed Aug.
15 deadline.

Federalism is one of the most volatile issues in talks on
the constitution, which the Shi’ite-led government and their
U.S. allies hope will defuse the Arab Sunni-led insurgency.

“We must have federalism in the south in order to guarantee
our rights, which enemies are trying try to prevent us from
having,” Amery said.

Government spokesman Laith Kubba has said leaders are
expected to deliver a framework for a constitution and resolve
tough issues later, to the dismay of some parties eager to
entrench federalism in the charter quickly.

The calls for federalism were made to an emotional crowd
commemorating the second anniversary of the death of Hakim’s
brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim, who was killed by a
car bomb in Najaf in 2003 along with 83 other people.

The Badr movement, former Iraqi army soldiers who turned
against Saddam Hussein in the war with Iran in the 1980s, are
resented by many Sunnis, who were dominant under the toppled
Iraqi leader but sidelined in January elections.

Kurds have enjoyed a de facto state in the north since
1991, when American troops set up a no-fly zone to protect them
from Saddam Hussein’s army.

Sunnis favor a strong central government with tight control
over oil resources in the Kurdish north and Shi’ite south.
Southern Iraq is home to the country’s biggest oil reserves.