BAGHDAD, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday renewed his call to change his country's constitution to give more power to the central government and then to go ahead with building a modern state.

    "We need to review and change the constitution so that we can build a modern state," Maliki said during a meeting with tribal leaders in Baghdad.

    "The constitution is not perfect. It played a role during a difficult period of Iraqi history, but it absolutely needs changes, which must be carried out constitutionally instead of by scaring or intimidating others," Maliki said.

    Maliki has launched several similar calls in the past hoping to strengthen his central government powers, but the Kurds in northern Iraq and some Shiite factions in the south have rejected the changes for fear of losing control of the oil-rich areas in the two regions.

    Meanwhile, Maliki rejected any reconciliation with Saddam Hussein's Baath party members, saying "it is not fair to reconcile with those who destroyed Iraq, made women widows and children orphans."

    He also warned of plots by external powers aimed at provoking insurgency, sectarianism and ethnicity among Iraqis ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections to be held next January.

    "Iraqis, regardless of their backgrounds, should not sink into the chaos that loyalists of the former regime are trying to create," Maliki said.

    "Iraq will definitely overcome these challenges," he said.