Maliki rejects US Senate resolution on country's partition

Iraq:Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki yesterday rejected a US Senate resolution proposing the division of Iraq into autonomous Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions.

Mr al-Maliki argued that Iraq's polity "is an Iraqi affair" and that division would be a catastrophe.

His words echoed statements by Shia vice-president Adel Abdel-Mahdi and of Liwa Semeism, a spokesman of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The latter stated: "we demand that the Iraqi government stand against such a project . . . Such a decision does not represent the aspirations of all Iraq's people and is considered interference in Iraq's internal affairs."

Mr al-Maliki's Dawa party and the Sadrists oppose the emergence of semi-autonomous regions while overwhelming Iraqi opposition is likely to have prompted Mr Abdel-Mahdi to come out against the scheme although his party, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, is the sole proponent of a nine-province Shia region in the south.

The non-binding measure, sponsored by Democrat presidential candidate Joseph Biden, was adopted by a vote of 75 to 23 in the upper house with the backing of 26 Republicans. Although decentralisation is spelled out in Iraq's 2005 constitution and the existing semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north has been accepted by Sunnis and Shias, most Iraqis oppose the creation of Shia and Sunni regions in the south and centre.

The six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and Yemen also rejected the Biden plan, fearing its implementation could lead to partition of the country.

GCC secretary general Abdurahman al-Attiyah said: "instead of calling for division, the problems that produced the current situation should be addressed.

"These include the [US] occupation, the sectarian and ethnic quota system, the absence of law and security, and the paralysed administration."

Meanwhile, in Ankara Turkey and Iraq signed an agreement pledging co-operation in combatting Turkish Kurd insurgents who take refuge in northern Iraq and launch attacks into Turkey. The separatist Kurdistan Workers's Party (PKK) is regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and other members of the international community.

Turkish interior minister Besir Atalay said, however, that the sides had failed to agree on a provision permitting Turkey the right to conduct "hot pursuit" operations against Kurdish rebels in Iraqi territory, as was the practice during the final years of Baathist rule when the three Kurdish provinces were protected by the US and Britain which tolerated Turkish cross-border raids.

Iraq's Kurds, who empathise with Kurds in neighbouring states, have put the brakes on Baghdad on this issue. Since the Kurds are the main allies of the Shias in the Maliki government, it is in no position to grant Turkey its demand.

Kurdish rebels from Turkey and Iran have stepped up attacks in their respective countries this year. Turkish and Iranian armed forces have responded by massing troops along the borders and shelling Kurdish bases but have not entered Iraqi territory.

Tehran accuses Washington of backing dissident Iranian Kurds in order to destabilise the country.