CAIRO, February 27, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Only the introduction of significant changes to the Iraqi "sectarian" constitution and disbanding government-condoned militias can help ward off a deadly civil, the International Crisis Group (ICG) concluded on Monday, February 27.

"Substantive changes must be made to the constitution once the constitutional process is reopened one month after the government enters office," the group said the executive summary of its new report.

"These should include a total revision of key articles concerning the nature of federalism and the distribution of proceeds from oil sales," it maintained.

Sounding the alarm after days of sectarian violence, the group said that if Iraq fell apart, historians could point the finger at the "flawed" January 2005 elections that handed victory to a Shiite-Kurdish alliance, which drafted the constitution and established a government that countered outrages against Shiites with indiscriminate attacks against Sunnis.

"As it stands, this constitution, rather than being the glue that binds the country together, has become both the prescription and blueprint for its dissolution."

Sunnis want changes in the constitution related to federalism, fearing the charter will give Shiite and Kurdish regions too much power and control over oil and natural resources.

The two contentious issues prompted major Sunni powers to boycott the January 2005 elections.

More than 200 people have been killed since Wednesday, when a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra was destroyed in a bombing that sparked a wave of tit-for-tat killings and led the defense minister to warn of the danger of "endless civil war."

Shiite and Sunnis scholars perform prayers together at Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad.

The Brussels-based think tank said that a real representative government should make every effort to restore a sense of national identity and address Iraqis’ top priorities: personal safety, jobs and reliable access to basic amenities such as electricity and fuel.

It further urged Iraqi leaders to disband militias and crack down on security forces who commit human rights abuses.

"It should also start disbanding the militias that have contributed to the country’s destabilization," it said.

Sunnis have accused Shiite militias of running government-sanctioned death squads and Shiite leaders of stacking powerful ministries with their supporters.

US Major-General Joseph Peterson, in charge of training the Iraqi police, told the Chicago Tribune newspaper that 22 policemen, dressed in police commando uniforms, were arrested in late January in northern Baghdad as they took away a Sunni to be shot.

Last November, more than 170 malnourished and beaten prisoners, many of them Sunni Arabs, were found locked in a bunker belonging to the interior ministry.

ICG said the US-led troops in Iraq, though they are part of the problem, must act to prevent a civil war that could destabilize the entire Middle East.

"While the US should explicitly state its intention to withdraw all its troops from Iraq, any drawdown should be gradual and take into account progress in standing up self-sustaining, non-sectarian Iraqi security forces as well as in promoting an inclusive political process," it said.

"Although US and allied troops are more part of the problem than they can ever be part of its solution, for now they are preventing – by their very presence and military muscle – ethnic and sectarian violence from spiraling out of control."

Sunni and Shiite scholars have made peace over the past few days and joined forces to nib a looming civil war in the bud.

Representatives of the Shiite Al-Sadr and Al-Khalsi schools met with Sunni leaders in Baghdad on Saturday, February 25, to defuse the raging sectarian tention.

Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr on Sunday, February 26, urged Iraqis to unite with a call for US forces to withdraw.

"I call on all Iraqis, Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims and non-Muslims, to take part in a demonstration of unity in Baghdad to call for the withdrawal of the forces of occupation, even if this has to take place over time," he told supporters in the southern port city of Basra.