Britain’s weekend handover of Basra province will have a limited effect on security in Iraq’s biggest oil region because rival Shiite warlords and local officials have been wielding the real power in the area.

Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki said today that the formation of the Cabinet was “mostly complete,” but an influential Shiite group and some Sunni Arab politician signalled the deal was far from done.

A Shiite political party today said it would not participate in the formation of a new Cabinet, saying the selection of the ministers was being dictated by personal interests that ran counter to the spirit of national unity.

A SUNNI Arab coalition yesterday submitted its list of candidates for the December elections, signalling the intention of many Sunnis to join the political process despite their failure to block ratification of the new constitution.