| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Kurds dent hopes for imminent deal on government |
| 2005-03-14 |
| SALAHADDIN, Iraq - Kurdish leaders have deflated hopes for the rapid formation of a government in Iraq as they refused to compromise on demands for joining a coalition with the country's powerful Shiite bloc. Six weeks after Iraq's milestone elections, Kurdish leaders are insisting on changes to a draft agreement setting out the terms for an alliance with the Shiite list, the biggest winner in the new parliament with 146 seats. The delays mean Iraq could be without a functioning government well past the first session of the new 275-member national assembly scheduled to open Wednesday. "There is progress, but the agreement still needs work and the participation of other political groups in the negotiations to form a government and enlarge its base," said Fuad Massum, one of four Kurds negotiating with the Shiites. "The special character of this period we are entering necessitates the participation of different forces in the government, not just two or three." His remarks opened the door to the possibility that the Kurds with an aversion to the religious character of the Shiite list were trying to force an opening for outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi, whose list received only 40 seats but is still seeking a way to retain his job. The plodding negotiations have triggered a wave of criticism from Shiite religious leaders who have demanded the government be put in place to tackle the resistance behind daily attacks in the country. The Kurdish negotiating team that had thrashed out a preliminary agreement with the Shiites presented the tentative deal Sunday to Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and members of Jalal al-Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). But Barzani hinted at dissatisfaction with the deal in an interview broadcast Friday, saying he wanted agreement now on Kurdish claims to the ethnically divided northern oil centre of Kirkuk. "We do not agree on postponing this matter until after the constitution, we must agree on the issue of Kirkuk now," he told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television. The UIA has sought out the Kurds, whose 77 assembly seats have given them the second largest bloc in parliament, in order to attain the two-thirds majority needed to appoint a presidency council, which then nominates the prime minister. In return, the Kurds have been seeking an iron-clad commitment from the Shiites that they will respect provisions regarding Kirkuk in an interim constitution adopted under the US-led occupation last year. The longer the process plays out, observers fear insurgents will exploit the delays and erode any momentum gained by the January 30 election. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Most of it, anyway -- they won't get Allawi as the new PM. He did his job and he's done. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-03-14 12:16:58 AM |
| #1 This is negiotiation 101. Time is clearly on the Kurds side and not the Shiite side. They will get what what they want. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-03-14 12:15:05 AM |