UN to suggest deal for Kirkuk
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 30, 2009 00:00
KIRKUK - Seeking to head off an explosion of ethnic violence, the United Nations will call for a power-sharing system of government for Iraq's deeply divided region of Kirkuk in the oil-rich north.
A draft U.N. plan, outlined to The Associated Press by two Western officials, aims to defuse dangerous tensions. Kurds, a majority in the region, have been trying to wrest control from Arabs, Turkomen and other rival ethnic groups. If open warfare breaks out, it could jeopardize the U.S. goal of stability across Iraq before elections at year's end.
Peaceful elections are critical to reducing the U.S. presence in Iraq, promised by President Barack Obama. The U.N. has played only a minor role in Iraq since 2003, when its Baghdad headquarters was destroyed by a truck bomb. Now, officials in Kirkuk say the U.N. efforts may be the last chance for a peaceful outcome.
Without a resolution, "I think Kirkuk will be like a TNT barrel and explode and burn everybody," Iraqi parliament lawmaker Mohammed Mahdi Amin al-Bayati, a Turkoman, said in an interview. Deputy Gov. Rakan Saeed al-Jubouri, a Sunni Arab, agreed. "Violence is very easy to start in Iraq," he said in a separate interview.
Kurds want the province to be wrapped into the regional government in northern Iraq. Arabs and Turkomen vehemently oppose this. "You cannot give up the opinion of the majority and give a small group of people what they want just because they ask for it," said Sarteep Mohammad Hussein Kakai, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament.
Arabization program
Deep suspicions among ethnic groups in Kirkuk are partially rooted in its past under Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of Kurds were killed, and more than 1,100 of their villages razed, under his Arabization program.
The long-awaited U.N. report on Kirkuk will outline options for compromise, but "we are not pushing them into any particular direction," said spokeswoman Randa Jamal. A draft of the U.N. plan, according to two Western officials who have read it, offers five options. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been finalized and they are not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Details of the formulas are still being negotiated. Remaining sticking points include how jobs will be divided among each group, and when, and who can be counted as a legal resident among the 400,000 Kurds who moved to Kirkuk after Saddam's ouster. Arabs and Turkomen call them illegal squatters.
"Ultimately, they need to come together to resolve this issue, because it's not going to get any prettier with time," said Howard Keegan, the State Department's top envoy in Kirkuk.
The U.S. has encouraged power-sharing in a country where Shiites dominate in the south, Sunnis in the west and Kurds in the far north. Bitter sectarian fighting and ethnic cleansing have deepened mistrust.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military leader in Iraq, said in a recent AP interview that "ultimately they have to solve this problem in Baghdad." And in a January visit to Kirkuk, Vice President Joe Biden told local leaders they had a year to show significant success in settling the dispute - or potentially face it alone. "The Americans should understand we cannot guarantee there will not be a civil war when they leave," said Turkoman councilman Hassan Toran.
Peaceful elections are critical to reducing the U.S. presence in Iraq, promised by President Barack Obama. The U.N. has played only a minor role in Iraq since 2003, when its Baghdad headquarters was destroyed by a truck bomb. Now, officials in Kirkuk say the U.N. efforts may be the last chance for a peaceful outcome.
Without a resolution, "I think Kirkuk will be like a TNT barrel and explode and burn everybody," Iraqi parliament lawmaker Mohammed Mahdi Amin al-Bayati, a Turkoman, said in an interview. Deputy Gov. Rakan Saeed al-Jubouri, a Sunni Arab, agreed. "Violence is very easy to start in Iraq," he said in a separate interview.
Kurds want the province to be wrapped into the regional government in northern Iraq. Arabs and Turkomen vehemently oppose this. "You cannot give up the opinion of the majority and give a small group of people what they want just because they ask for it," said Sarteep Mohammad Hussein Kakai, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament.
Arabization program
Deep suspicions among ethnic groups in Kirkuk are partially rooted in its past under Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of Kurds were killed, and more than 1,100 of their villages razed, under his Arabization program.
The long-awaited U.N. report on Kirkuk will outline options for compromise, but "we are not pushing them into any particular direction," said spokeswoman Randa Jamal. A draft of the U.N. plan, according to two Western officials who have read it, offers five options. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been finalized and they are not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Details of the formulas are still being negotiated. Remaining sticking points include how jobs will be divided among each group, and when, and who can be counted as a legal resident among the 400,000 Kurds who moved to Kirkuk after Saddam's ouster. Arabs and Turkomen call them illegal squatters.
"Ultimately, they need to come together to resolve this issue, because it's not going to get any prettier with time," said Howard Keegan, the State Department's top envoy in Kirkuk.
The U.S. has encouraged power-sharing in a country where Shiites dominate in the south, Sunnis in the west and Kurds in the far north. Bitter sectarian fighting and ethnic cleansing have deepened mistrust.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military leader in Iraq, said in a recent AP interview that "ultimately they have to solve this problem in Baghdad." And in a January visit to Kirkuk, Vice President Joe Biden told local leaders they had a year to show significant success in settling the dispute - or potentially face it alone. "The Americans should understand we cannot guarantee there will not be a civil war when they leave," said Turkoman councilman Hassan Toran.