Basra to demand turning into region – source

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: The Basra provincial council will activate demands to turn the oil-rich city into a region after the Iraqi government is formed, according to the council’s information chief on Sunday. “One-third of the provincial council had in the past presented a request to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to launch a referendum over turning the city into a region but the request was frozen due to the delayed formation of a new Iraqi government,” Hashim Leibi told IraqiNews.com news agency. Judge Wa’il Abdullatif, a member of the Iraqi parliament, had announced in early 2009 the failure of a project to turn Basra into a region after failing to obtain the 10% of votes needed. The port-city of Basra, Iraq’s only outlet to waterways, lies 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (P) 2