Iraq's top Shia cleric has urged the United Nations not to endorse the country's interim constitution, his office said on Monday, raising a potentially grave obstacle to US plans to hand power to Iraqis on July 1.
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani told senior UN official Lakhdar Brahimi in a letter that unless the United Nations rejects the constitution, he would boycott a UN team expected to visit Iraq soon to advise on forming an interim government.
Another threat to any orderly transition is the violence that has convulsed Iraq since the US-led invasion a year ago.
Sistani, in a letter published by his office, said the United Nations should not approve the de facto constitution.
"The (Shia) religious establishment fears the occupation authorities will work to include this law in a new UN resolution to give it international legitimacy," he wrote.
"We warn that any such step will not be acceptable to the majority of Iraqis and will have dangerous consequences."
The cleric's letter is likely to dismay US authorities keen to stick to the mid-year hand-over deadline on the basis of the interim constitution, preferably with UN approval.
MANDATE FOR PEACEKEEPERS: POLAND Poland said on Monday it hoped the United Nations would adopt a mandate for peacekeepers in Iraq that would persuade Spain not to pull out its troops, as it has threatened to do.
Spain's incoming prime minister has said Madrid will withdraw its 1,300 soldiers on June 30 unless the United Nations is put in charge of the political transition in Iraq.
Sistani wields great influence over Iraq's majority Shias. His reservations held up the signing of the interim constitution for days. His latest objections could jeopardise the US hand-over deadline, or at least undermine the legitimacy of any Iraqi government that assumes power.
Sistani had wanted full national elections before June 30, which would probably have favoured the Shia majority.
Under the interim constitution, direct elections for a transitional government, which will oversee the writing of a permanent constitution, must be held by January 2005.
In his letter, Sistani said the interim constitution was unworkable because it sets up a three-person presidential council, which he said would comprise a Sunni, a Kurd and a Shia. They would be required to take unanimous decisions.
"This builds a basis for sectarianism. Consensus would not be reached unless there is pressure from a foreign power, or a deadlock would be reached that destabilises the country and could lead to break-up," Sistani said.
Annan confirmed the letter had been received.
"I will be discussing it with Mr Brahimi and I will study it before I react," he told reporters at the United Nations.