Iraq passes federalism law

Baghdad: The Shiite-dominated parliament yesterday passed a controversial law allowing the formation of federal regions in Iraq, despite opposition from Sunni lawmakers - and some Shiites - who said the step would dismember the country and fuel sectarian violence.

The law includes a provision that regions cannot be formed for another 18 months, a concession to Sunni concerns.

The Sunni coalition in parliament and two Shiite parties tried to prevent a vote on a Bill by boycotting yesterday's session to prevent the 275-seat body from reaching the necessary 50 per cent quorum.

But the quorum was reached with 140 lawmakers, who voted on each of the Bill's some 200 articles individually, passing them all unanimously.

The federalism law sets up a system for allowing provinces to join together into autonomous regions that would hold considerable self-rule powers, a right given to them under the constitution adopted last year in a national referendum. Some Shiites want to create an autonomous zone in their heartland in the south, much like the self-ruling Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

"This is the beginning of the plan to divide Iraq," said Adnan Al Dulaimi, leader of the Sunni National Accordance Front, which boycotted the vote along with Moqtada Al Sadr's party and the Shiite Fadila party.

"We hope there won't be an increase in violence," Al Dulaimi said.