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Last Updated: Thursday, 21 December 2006, 16:51 GMT

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Iraq Shias set to meet top cleric

Ayatollah Sistani has a large following among Iraq's Shias
Iraq's Shia Muslim leaders are gathering in the holy city of Najaf for talks with the country's most prominent Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
They are expected to seek Mr Sistani's approval for a new governing coalition.

They also say they want to persuade the radical Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, to rein in his Mehdi Army militia and rejoin the political process.

Mr Sadr's party left the government in protest at talks between Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki and US President George W Bush.

The Shia leaders want to form a new governing coalition that will bring together the main Shia parties and representatives of Sunni Arab and Kurdish groups.

Serious rivalries

Dr Ali al-Adib, a member of the Shia Dawa party, said the Shia bloc planned to tell Ayatollah Sistani about the political process, a cabinet reshuffle and the security situation.

He told the Associated Press news agency the leaders would also ask Mr Sadr "to end the boycott and return to the political process".

Another member of the Dawa party and an adviser to PM Maliki told the AP news agency they wished to assure Mr Sadr "that he will not be sidelined from the political process".

The elderly Ayatollah Sistani is revered by most of Iraq's Shias. He has considerable influence among the Shia parties but he has eschewed any personal political role.

The Shia leaders visiting Ayatollah Sistani want to show him the new governing coalition will not break the Shia bloc apart.

But according to the BBC's Middle East analyst, Roger Hardy, the talk of unity masks serious rivalries.

The Shia are uneasily aware that the fate of Iraq - and of their community's place in Iraq - now hangs in the balance, he says.