August 11, 2005 - 9:05 AM

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 August 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 favour 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.