Iraq civil war will 'burn everyone': Shiite leader

Fri Dec 1, 9:56 AM ET

AMMAN (AFP) - Powerful Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim has warned that civil war in Iraq would "burn everyone" and threaten security across the region, during a religious sermon delivered in Jordan.

"The eruption of a sectarian war will not only burn everyone but it will also undermine the security of the entire region and lead to the unknown," Hakim told worshippers at Jordan's largest mosque.

"We are attached to unity for Iraq and its people and we are opposed to any attempt to divide Iraq because our strength is in our unity," said the head of the powerful Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

During his sermon before hundreds of worshippers, including many Iraqi citizens, at the Sunni Muslim King Hussein Mosque, the Shiite cleric and politician stressed his support for a national unity government in Iraq.

"We do not want a Shiite government that sidelines the Sunnis and we don't want a Sunni government that marginalises the Shiites," said Hakim, whose SCIRI is a key part of Iraq's ruling coalition,

"We want a government in which everyone takes part and that is at the service of all the citizens," Hakim added Friday.

The sermon by Hakim, a rare event in Jordan, came two days after confusion over alleged remarks attributed to him after talks Wednesday with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman.
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