LONDON, Sept 30 (AFP) - Iraq's oil-rich southern provinces are considering plans to set up an autonomous region in a move that could threaten the unity of the country, London's Financial Times newspaper reported Thursday.
Officials from the three southern provinces of Basra, Missan and Dhiqar, which account for more than 80 percent of Iraq's oil reserves, have been holding talks on establishing a federal region in the south, following the example of the Kurdish north, the FT said.
The regions have presented a political challenge to the interim Iraqi administration as it battles a fierce insurgency in Sunni Muslim areas and continued unrest in an impoverished Shia suburb of Baghdad, the newspaper said.
The three regions have reportedly told Iraqi media they feel marginalised in new government institutions, including the consultative assembly that advises the government.
The cabinet led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi includes only one representative from the three provinces. Iraq has 18 regions.
"The south has been desperately disappointed and they see Baghdad as continuing to leave them without representation," said a western diplomat quoted by the FT.
"So they are working on ways to organise themselves to have more clout with the centre."
Walid Khadduri, editor of the Cyprus-based Middle East Economic Survey, and an expert on Iraq, told the FT the talks on self-rule were alarming.
"It could weaken the state and lead to the eventual fragmentation of the country," he said.