Iraq's parliament reopened yesterday after a month-long recess marked by mounting sectarian violence, beginning a session which will discuss breaking up the country into semi-independent regions.
At the top of the agenda was the controversial question of whether to allow some of Iraq's provinces to merge into larger autonomous regions, a move which some Sunni lawmakers fear could lead to the country eventually falling apart.
Other groups, however, strongly support the concept of creating virtually independent zones in the oil-rich Shiite south and Kurdish north, and leave the Sunnis economically isolated in the barren western desert.
PHOTO: AP
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government is struggling to unite the country's warring factions.
"I urge all people of goodwill to come forward to support the national reconciliation project; otherwise we will face the worst period in modern Iraqi history," speaker Mahmud Mashhadani said as he opened the session.
"We are the elected leaders of Iraq and I'm confident that the terrorists will not succeed in what they do," he said, referring to the rival insurgents and militias who have killed more than 50 Iraqis in attacks every day.
"In the next few sessions the parliament will discuss the law for the formation of provinces," predicted Abbas al-Bayati, spokesman for the largest Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, which holds 128 seats.
Before the session, Nawzad Saleh, a member of the Kurdish Alliance, said: "There is a draft law being discussed within the coalition to form provinces in accordance with the Constitution. The informal discussions have begun."
A leading Sunni lawmaker, Alaa Maki, confirmed that the issue was on the agenda, and appeared to signal that his group's opposition was softening.
"We will give our opinion on federalism to parliament soon," he said. "But we do not object to the administrative application of federalism for better administration under the supervision of a strong central government."
As the assembly's 275 members gathered at the parliament building in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Bayati noted that under Iraq's new constitution, the issue of federalism must be tabled before Sept. 16.
It had not been placed on the agenda for yesterday, however. Lawmakers were instead expected to rubber-stamp the extension of Iraq's state of emergency, under which the coalition government has broad powers to fight unrest.
Most lawmakers nominally support a fragile national unity coalition headed by Maliki, who is struggling to impose his authority upon a strife-torn country.
But virtually all members also represent parties divided on strict ethnic and sectarian lines, and many political parties also enjoy the tacit or open support of militia forces engaged in Iraq's current bloody conflict.
Two issues are likely to generate angry debates when the sessions begin, and the first is federalism.
The Kurdish north has been under broad self-rule for 15 years, allowing it to escape the worst of the violence plaguing Arab areas.The people of the region are united behind their leaders' demands for this to be legally protected.
Many Shiite leaders -- some allegedly encouraged by neighboring Iran -- also want to split away their area in central and south Iraq, which holds holy Shiite shrines and rich oil fields.
Sunnis, who prospered under the ousted regime of former president Saddam Hussein while their neighbors suffered repression, are much more attached to the idea of a strongly centralized Iraq which would guarantee their rights as a minority.
Another issue which is likely to generate heat is that of the national flag, which the president of the autonomous Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, has refused to fly, arguing that it represents Saddam's regime.
Sunni lawmakers issued a statement before parliament opened calling on Kurds to accept the flag as an interim measure while parliament debates the design of a new symbol that all Iraqis can respect.
This was seen as unlikely to placate the Kurds, however.
Later in the day, Britain's Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett was due to meet Maliki and President Jalal Talabani for talks on security.
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