Rejection to turn Anbar province into region

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Calls for creating a political region in Anbar province were rejected by local government officials, sheikhs and elder people here, who regard it as a plan to divide Iraq and split its unification.  Hikmat Zaidan, deputy governor, said to IraqiNews.com that there are foreign and internal agendas want to disseminate the ideas of division by proposing Anbar province to be a separate region, but “astonished to see the rejection.”   He confirmed that “Anbar citizens believe in the unity of the country despite all sectarian and divisional attempts.”  Zaidan added that the First Political Conference shall be held in few days time to announce the rejection of dividing the country and Anbar as a region.  Ramadi, center of Anbar province, lies 110 km west of the capital, Baghdad. RM (TS)/SR 538