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Lavrov: Iraq could split up if no moves to
unity
24.10.2006 |
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MOSCOW, October
24 ,-- Iraq could break up if measures are not
undertaken urgently to underpin national unity,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on
Tuesday.
"If there is no sudden change and if there is no
start to efforts towards unity, this situation could
become reality," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov
as telling journalists in St Petersburg, Russia's
second city.
Russia opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003
and has called for efforts to contain violence
there. |
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov |
Calls for a de facto partition have come from within
Iraq, including one on Tuesday from the largest
Shiite Muslim political grouping.
Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council
for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told
supporters that a federal system with only loose
central control would prevent the return of
dictatorship.
"Federalism will guarantee that the injustice of the
past will not revisit our children nor our
grandchildren," Hakim said in a speech for the Eid
al-Fitr holidays marking the end of the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan.
Iraq's post-Saddam constitution, passed by
referendum in October 2005, describes the country as
a "democratic, federal, representative republic" but
a decision on what kind of federal system to use has
yet to be taken.
The supreme leader of neighbouring Iran, meanwhile,
called on Iraqis to remain united in the face of
what he called US plots to destablise the region.
The former U.S ambassador to Croatia, Peter
Galbraith, said the Kurds have already created an
independent state in northern Iraq.
The Kurds have already achieved an independent
state in all but name. He said that formal
independence as well as a seat at the United Nations
would eventually take place despite Turkish
opposition, Middle East Newsline reported.
Reuters | AFP
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