The Iraqi people have not been drawn together by the drafting of a new constitution and violence will rage on despite the document's apparent approval, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said this evening.
It was too soon to say whether the constitution would now pull the country together or lead to its disintegration into separate Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurd states, as one internal UN report warned last month, Mr Annan told reporters. "We had hoped that the constitutional process would have been an exercise that would have been totally inclusive, and pull together all the Iraqis, helping with reconciliation. Obviously that did not happen and has not happened," he said.
Asked whether he thought violence would cease after Saturday's referendum, Mr Annan said, "I do not think we can legitimately expect that, given the facts and what we know."
A confidential September 15th UN report cautioned that the new constitution was a "model for the territorial division of the state," Newsweek reported this month.
Mr Annan said the struggle over the constitution's wording reflected Iraqi divisions over whether it was better to have a strong central government or strong regional authorities.
"That is what the whole struggle is about - the powers of the region vs. the centre. If you have strong regional governments, does that augur well for the unity of the government or, given the situation on the ground (would it) lead to the split-up of the country?" he said. "I think we need to see how things develop in the next couple of weeks or months to be able to decide which direction things are likely to go. But the question is a legitimate one," he said.
Partial results from Saturday's referendum pointed to a victory for the charter that the United States hopes will help establish Iraq as a stable democracy and eventually allow the withdrawal of 156,000 U.S. troops.
Sunnis, who make up just 20 percent of the population, fear the constitution will hand control of the country and its oil resources to the Shi'ite majority and its Kurdish allies.
But it appeared that Sunni opposition was not enough for the required two-thirds "No" vote in three of Iraq's 18 provinces to block the constitution.