~ He said the country's fate is entwined with that of its neighbors, Iran and Syria.

LONDON -- Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi fears his country -- wracked by sectarian bloodshed and terrorism -- is nearing a precipice but says dividing the nation along ethnic and religious lines would only worsen the violence.

The first prime minister to take office following Saddam Hussein's ouster said his country was slipping into a chaotic level of violence -- a situation he said he never anticipated.

"To be honest, this is not something that I could have imagined when we fought Saddam's regime," he said Thursday. "I would never have imagined that Iraq would be in the state it's in now."

Allawi described the violence as "quite alarming and dangerous" and said the images of carnage and lawlessness that flash across television screens show only a fraction of the full picture.

Allawi, a former exile and surgeon who was once a member of Saddam's Baath Party, became postwar Iraq's first prime minister in 2004 at the head of an interim government. In the country's first post-Saddam elections in 2005, Allawi, a secular Shiite, and his party were routed by a coalition of religious Shiites. Allawi is in London for medical treatment.

Allawi rejected the idea that splitting the nation into separate Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite areas would end sectarian violence, saying it would only make things worse.

"This would bring more violence. It would spill over into the region, and have a domino effect," he said. "It would create an influx of refugees, especially to Europe. It would cause a lot of death and violence and extremism, and I don't think it's an answer."

He said the possibility of independent states could be explored if peace is restored -- but only by democratic means.

"Then the people can decide for themselves what they want," he said. "But now, to decide by force, and for the world to accept it as a de facto situation ... I think all of us should work against this for now. This is not a solution. This is a solution of the defeated."

Iraq's fate is entwined with those of its neighbors, Allawi said. To find a lasting peace, neighbors like Iran and Syria should be encouraged to participate in a meaningful way.

A Middle Eastern policy on the prevention of extremism and terrorism is needed; Iraq would have its own rules, but the region as a whole, with global input, should have a broader approach to tackling the problem.

"Everyone has the feel that the world is passing through a very dangerous phase, and we need to address two problems very quickly -- Iraq, and Palestine. Otherwise, things will get out of hand," he said.