Hakim, 64, the head of the Iran-backed Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), crossed the border near the main southern city of Basra early yesterday.

But despite the tens of thousands of supporters who had turned out to welcome him, Hakim avoided any note of triumphalism and sought to calm fears that his movement sought a Tehran-style theocracy.

“We want a democratic government, representing the Iraqi nation, the Iraqi people, the Muslims, Christians and all the minorities,” he said.

Shiites make up around 60 percent of the Iraqi population, which also includes a complex mix of Kurds, Christians, Sunnis and others.

Some Iraqis fear the Shiites will eventually push for a state based on Islamic law. The United States has accused the group’s Badr Brigade armed wing of working as a fifth column of Tehran.

Throughout his 45-minute address, Hakim presented himself as a spiritual leader rather than a man to be compared with Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini, but also clearly marked his distance from the US/UK coalition occupying Iraq.

“We have to help each other stand together against imperialism... We are Muslims. We want the Iraqi people to govern themselves,” he said, surrounded by Badr Brigade bodyguards in civilian clothes.

Despite its rhetoric, Hakim’s group has taken the pragmatic decision to participate in US-sponsored efforts to forge a new administration, sitting on the seven-member council of former opposition groups who are spearheading the process.

While his return is being watched closely, analysts said Hakim would not seek center stage for the moment and will keep SAIRI involved in US-brokered efforts to set up an interim government.

Hakim is expected to tour southern Iraq in the coming days before returning to his birthplace, the city of Najaf, and was not immediately scheduled to travel to Baghdad.

Meanwhile Saddam, whose fate still remains a mystery a month after Baghdad fell to US forces, has purportedly written a letter calling on Iraqis to resist, Al-Qods Al-Arabi daily said.

The newspaper said it believed Saddam had written the six-page letter, dated May 7, which it received by fax.

“Save the homeland,” the message said. “Enroll in the resistance. Do not give up your petrol and your wealth. Fight against the occupier and his agents, boycott them. It is a religious and patriotic duty.”

In northeastern Iraq the US military reached a disarmament deal with the Iraq-based Iranian armed opposition, the People’s Mujahedeen. “It is not a surrender. It is an agreement to disarm and consolidate,” said Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division, after winding up two days of talks with the group, which has been termed a terrorist organization by both the United States and Iran.

In Baghdad US officials handed out tens of thousands more dollars yesterday to Iraq’s cash-strapped civil servants, who have not seen a paycheck in almost two months.