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The Shia-Kurdish
pact at the heart of Iraq's transitional government
is threatening to split apart amid accusations by
Iraq's president, a Kurd, that the Shia prime
minister's parliamentary bloc broke a deal over
oil-rich Kirkuk, which the Kurds claim as their
historic capital.
President Jalal Talabani wanted Ibrahim al-Jaafari,
prime minister, to resign so that Iraq's political
process could move ahead, Mr Talabani's spokesman,
Azad Jundiyani, said yesterday.
Following repeated stop-gap trade-offs, the
unresolved rift over the ethnically mixed northern
city has again re-emerged at a critical juncture -
this time in the run-up to the October 15 referendum
on a contentious draft constitution. A high turnout
is expected at the referendum, with more than 14m
Iraqis registered.
Shia leaders agreed to implement Article 58 of the
Transitional Administrative Law, Iraq's US-drafted
provisional constitution, which calls for undoing
population transfers by the ousted regime of Saddam
Hussein.
But Shia leaders have failed to specify a timetable
for implementation, the Kurds complain.
According to the Kurds, the government formed in
late April between the Shia-led United Iraqi
Alliance and the Kurdistan Alliance was supposed to
take concrete steps on Kirkuk within one month.
Mr Talabani gained the presidency in exchange for
broad Kurdish parliamentary support.
The Kurds want to add Kirkuk to their
autonomous-rule zone and insist that Mr Hussein's
Arab "settlers," mostly Shia originally from the
south, should leave.
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