BAGHDAD, October 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Twenty one leading Iraqi Sunni groups urged Saturday, October 8, the Iraqi people to vote down the proposed draft constitution in the October 15 referendum, warning the charter would trigger the country's break-up.

"This constitution bears in it the germs of Iraq's division, the loss of its Arab identity and the plundering of its national wealth," the organizations said in a joint statement, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"As a result, we call for all Iraqis to reject this constitution by all legitimate means," added the groups, including the influential Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) and the main Iraqi Islamic party.

The final draft of the new constitution has been handed over to the UN for printing and distribution after being endorsed by the Shiites and Kurds, who hold a sweeping majority in the parliament.

Sunnis are basically opposed to the inclusion of federalism in the new charter because they believe it will divide Iraq and exclude them from sharing in oil wealth, as reserves are concentrated mainly in the Kurdish north and Shiite south.

Sunnis are a majority in Al-Anbar, Nineveh and Salahudin provinces and Iraq's interim law stipulates that the text fails if two-thirds of any three provinces vote against it during the referendum, scheduled for October 15.

Across Iraq, copies of the new charter were being distributed ahead of the referendum. (Reuters).

Across Iraq, copies of the new charter were being distributed ahead of the poll, which will pave the way for general elections in December.

In the northern Kurdish province of Arbil, local official Nuzad Barzani said Kurdish-language versions of the document were being released through all available channels.

"We have asked newspapers, radios and television stations close to Kurdish political parties to publish the document" as part of an information campaign designed to reach those in remote areas, he said.

In the Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, an Iraqi official said copies were being handed out along with food rations.

"Men ask for the constitution before the sugar. Woman want sugar and rice first," Ibrahim Hassan Bahadli noted.

Roughly 15.7 million voters are eligible to vote in the referendum out of Iraq's total population of 26 million.

Iraqi Interior Minister Bayane Baqer Soulagh laid out a string of measures intended to help protect voters during the referendum.

They included a curfew from October 13-17, the hours of which were not specified "for reasons of security", Soulagh said.

Baghdad is already under curfew from midnight to 5:00 am (2100-0200 GMT).

October 13-16 are to be declared holidays, he added.

International borders would be closed with the exception of commercial and medical traffic, the minister said, without providing specific dates.

Air and sea ports would also be closed, but the extent and duration of the closures were not revealed.

Traffic between Iraqi provinces is to be halted from 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) on October 14 until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on October 16.

Soulagh said use of personal vehicles would be limited as well, but gave no details.

A statement posted earlier inside the heavily-protected Green Zone had said there would also be a ban on weapons-carrying, even by those who held permits, with the exception of members of Iraq's security forces.

"The situation is so tense ... a civil war could erupt at any moment," Moussa warned.

In a related development, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa warned Saturday that Iraq was on the verge of civil war and there is no clear strategy or leadership to reconcile the different communities.

"The situation is so tense ... a civil war could erupt at any moment, although some people would say it is already there, so we cannot leave Iraq with divisions and disagreement and conflict and shooting," Moussa told the BBC radio.

"There are a lot of individuals ... now playing games with the future of Iraq and there is no clear strategy, there is no clear leadership."

Moussa asserted that the pan-Arab body would work to bring the different groups together.

"We are now in a mission to bring people together," he said. "The situation is bad and our work is now to bring all communities together, we want to do something constructive."

An Arab League delegation left Egypt for Iraq on Saturday to prepare for Moussa's first visit since the 2003 US-led invasion-turned-occupation of Iraq and to monitor the referendum.

Hesham Youssef, director of Moussa's office in Cairo, said his chief would go to Iraq "as soon as possible" after the referendum and his trip would focus on the "process of reconciliation between the different Iraqi political forces".

Arab countries have voiced increasing concern over the persistent violence in Iraq and its impact on the region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal launched in September a scathing criticism of the US policy in Iraq, saying it was pushing the country for a deadly civil war and handing it over to Iran.