And the Mehdi Army and Badr Brigades -- the principal combatants in the Basra region -- are hardly the only militias at arms in Iraq.

CNN: Analysis: Al-Sadr in trouble, Iraq headed for meltdown

The Iraqi cabinet approved a preliminary agreement that will create a joint venture between the state-run South Oil Company and Royal Dutch Shell to develop natural-gas resources in the Basra region.

ECONOMIST: Business this week

Some scholars have called the region located in and around Basra, Thiqar and Maysan provinces the biblical Garden of Eden.

CNN: U.N.: Iraq's marshlands recovering

On the last of their four-day visit, half the delegation will visit Erbil in the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, while the other half will fly to the southern city of Basra.

BBC: MEPs want Iraq human rights focus