[They have a lot of admirable qualities, and they have suffered enormously, but it looks like when it comes to an ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Kurds are going to keep their title as the best in history.]
Financial Times; December 28, 2003
Kurds throw up new hurdle to Iraq sovereignty
By Peter Spiegel in Baghdad and David Pilling in Tokyo
Kurdish members of Iraq's governing council are insisting the
country's transitional law include wide-ranging sovereignty rights for
the northern Kurdish areas - including control of their natural
resources and veto powers over Iraqi military movements in the region.
The Kurdish demands are throwing up another hurdle to completing the
statute by the proposed deadline of February 28 even though they
appear highly unlikely to be adopted in full.
But more encouraging news is expected on Monday with an offer by Japan
to write off a substantial amount of the roughly $7bn owed by Iraq in
sovereign debt and interest. The move is likely to be seen as a break
with past Japanese policies on debt forgiveness.
When James Baker, US special envoy on Iraqi debt, visits Tokyo,
Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister, will tell him that
Japan "intends to address the issue proactively", according to one
government official.
Kurdish parties have proposed a semi-autonomous governing body, called
the Council of Kurdish Ministers, which must approve all
administrative actions from Baghdad, in a draft version of the
transitional law submitted to the governing council earlier this month
and obtained by the Financial Times.
Officials close to last week's governing council debates said the
Kurdish proposal had suddenly become one of the thorniest issues under
discussion. Other sticking points were the selection process for
members of the new transitional national assembly, which had been
complicated by calls from Shia religious leaders for direct elections,
and the future of the governing council itself, which is scheduled to
be dissolved once sovereignty is handed to the assembly.
Despite Kurdish insistence that the devolved powers be detailed in the
transitional law, coalition officials said they believed the proposal
was a non-starter. The Kurdish provisions are opposed by most Arab
governing council members, and any decision on Iraq's federal
structure is expected to be postponed until a constitutional
convention in 2005.
Even so, Kurdish officials on Sunday were insisting special federal
treatment for Kurdistan be included in the transitional law, warning
that pressure for an independence referendum would grow if the
governing council failed to grant concessions.
"A majority of the people, they say if the Arabs refuse our proposal
we will choose the referendum," said Adel Murad, spokesman for the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, headed by governing council member Jalal
Talabani.
Kurdish officials said they were prepared to negotiate about the
proposals, a tacit acceptance that they were unlikely to be adopted in
full. Despite this, the Kurdish proposal is a further indication that
Iraq's various groups are increasingly attempting to include parochial
demands in the transitional law. Shia clerics, particularly grand
ayatollah Ali Sistani, have already succeeded in influencing the
political process.
The Kurdish draft contains other contentious proposals. While it falls
short of demanding immediate geographical changes in what constitutes
the Kurdish areas, it does call for the provinces of Kirkuk and Irbil
to be redrawn to borders before Saddam Hussein came to power in 1968.
The draft also calls for the return of all Kurdish assets seized
during Ba'athist rule.
[c.gif] © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2003.