Shi'ite leaders do not speak of the desire to dominate a new Iraq; they speak o­nly of their belief in democracy and letting the people choose.

In a fair election, the two would come to the same thing.

'Bad start'

"Whoever is elected by the majority will be accepted," says Dr Hamid Al Bayatti of the Supreme Council for Islamic Resistance in Iraq. This leading Shi'ite group in northern Iraq controls a large group of Shi'ite militants called the Badr Brigade.

Latif Rashid of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan says it is not necessary that "Shi'ite leaders would speak for the Shi'ites, Sunni leaders for the Sunnis or Kurdish leaders o­nly for Kurds".

Everyone, he said, wants to build a "new Iraq which does not exclude anyone and where power comes o­nly through the ballot box".

But the tension between Shi'ites and Sunnis has surfaced in frightening ways o­n the streets of Baghdad and around Iraq. The brutal assassination of Shi'ite leader Abdul Majid Al-Khoei, who went to Iraq from Britain just two weeks back, is o­nly o­ne indication of the extent of religious animosities within Iraq.

Abdul Majidi, who has met British Prime Minister Tony Blair several times, was hacked to death by a mob carrying swords outside the Shrine of Ali in Najaf, o­ne of the most sacred mosques for Shi'ites.

He had fled to London in 1991 after the repression of Shi'tes following the first Gulf War. He returned to Najaf and immediately began radio broadcasts under US pressure to ask people to support the coalition troops.

"This has been a bad beginning," notes Hamid.

Dr Laith Kubbah, co-founder of the Iraqi National Group based in Washington DC and an academic who has held leading positions in the Iraqi opposition for 20 years agrees: "It is a sign of the degree of tension among Iraqis. And this happened in the holiest city. It shows how things will go in other cities unless the situation is taken head o­n."

History of violence

Shi'te and Sunni Muslims have a long history of violence. The Shi'ites were historically a group that supported Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.

Ali, who was a caliph (religious leader and ruler), was murdered in 661 AD and was replaced by his chief rival Muawiya. Ali's followers since then have been known as Shi'ites.

The schism ran down generations. Muawiya was succeeded by his son Yazid, who was then challenged by Ali's son Hussein. This led to a battle between the followers of the two.

Hussein and his followers were massacred at a battle in Karbala in present day Iraq in 680. That makes Karbala among the holiest shrines to Shi'ites, and Iraq itself a holy land. Shi'ites believe that a new Imam will come to earth to save them from oppression they have suffered since.

A divide between Shi'ites and Sunnis has continued into present times in Iraq. Iraqi forces under a Sunni leadership fought an eight-year war with Shi'ite Iran from 1980.

Under Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein, the minority Sunnis held the dominant position in government and the military. Sunnis also owned top businesses and are among the leading professionals in Iraq.

The looting in Baghdad and other Iraqi towns is widely reported to be the work of the deprived Shi'ite majority. The first place that saw mobs come out o­n a looting spree was Saddam City in Baghdad, home to about o­ne million Shi'ites.

The Shi'ites here and in the south had risen in open rebellion at the end of the last Gulf War. But they felt betrayed that the US troops that had seemed to offer deliverance then left them at Saddam's mercy.

Thousands of Shi'ites were reportedly tortured and killed by Saddam's men. Iraq is the o­nly

Arab country with a Shi'ite majority.

Deep differences

Iraq itself is a creation of Britain in the 1920s after its forces invaded Iraq. Britain put the Shi'ite areas in the south, the Sunni-dominated areas in the centre and the Kurdish north into a single country for their administrative purposes

Historically the different groups have governed themselves or been governed as separate entities.

The assembly of all these people into a single country that is looking at elections for the first time gives Shi'ites sight of power for the first time.

The split is not just showing but widening: the Shi'ites have welcomed the Americans, and it is mostly Sunnis who have begun to speak against them. - IPS