ABU DHABI, Jan 12: Any plan to split Iraq into ethnic Kurdish, Sunni or Shia territory would have grave consequences for the Gulf Arab region, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain said on Monday.

In a speech on the impact of the 'New Iraq' on Gulf states, Prince Turki al-Faisal also warned that the country could degenerate into a regional base for terror.

His comments reflected regional fears the United States will opt for a federal solution for ethnically and religiously fragmented Iraq, which some of Iraq's neighbours believe could destabilise the Gulf, for example through the rising power of Shias in southern Iraq or Kurdish autonomy in the north.

"There is a set of dangers facing Gulf countries. The first one is linked to the occupation of Iraq which can lead to many scenarios, the most dangerous of which is the partitioning of Iraq which will have dangerous consequences on all of us."

"The second (scenario) is that Iraq becomes a den for terrorists, attracting all kinds who see in it an opportunity to practice their inhuman crimes that violate all godly laws," he said in Abu Dhabi.

A third possibility is that Iraq remains "an American colony" and base for American forces, run according to US self-interest, he said. The Saudi envoy said division of Iraq would achieve a long-time Israeli policy which he said advocated small ethnic and religious cantons in the Arab world unable to threaten the Jewish state's security.

Iraq's neighbours have frequently expressed fears that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq for more than a quarter of a century, could split Iraq in three - the Kurdish north, the Sunni Muslim centre and Shia south.

Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, is concerned at the rising power of the Shia in neighbouring southern Iraq. American plans for an accelerated handover of sovereignty to Iraqis are running into problems over a US pledge of autonomy to Kurds, and Shia disgruntlement over an American blueprint for an indirectly elected national assembly.

Washington said it would not step in to prevent Iraqis taking potentially divisive decisions to allow some Kurdish autonomy in the north, a position that alarms Iraq's neighbours with Kurdish minorities such as Syria, Iran and Turkey.-Reuters