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Iraq's Sunnis says no partition of Iraq
13.9.2006 |
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Baghdad,
September, 13, -- The speaker of Iraq's parliament
says there is no immediate likelihood of
implementing a plan to partition the country into
autonomous ethnic regions.
Mahmoud al-Mashhadani told The Washington Post in an
interview a controversial legislation on the
so-called federalism plan may be put off
indefinitely by various political leaders who were
meeting this week.
The federalism plan would create a Shiite region in
southern Iraq, similar to the autonomous Kurdistan
zone in the north controlled by the Kurds, the
report said.
Iraq's Sunnis, most of whom oppose the plan, fear it
would leave them only with desert areas in the
middle and none of the country's oil reserves.
"If federalism is to be applied now, it will lead to
the secession of the south and the establishment of
an Islamist extremist state in the center of the
country," Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, told The Post.
He said the political leaders could agree on the
principle but postpone the topic for four years.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the largest Shiite
political coalition in Iraq, defended federalism,
saying it is a basic constitutional right of all
Iraqis. But the Post reported support for the plan
has started to erode.
UPI
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