|
Qubad Talabani, Washington spokesman for the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said "intense
negotiations" also were under way on the details of
Kurdistan's federal status and distribution of the
nation's oil riches.
Another source familiar with the negotiations said
the Kurds had demanded 25 percent of all oil
revenues, and were constantly raising the stakes in
the ongoing political discussion. "Nobody can
give them what they want right now, nobody can. Only
an elected government, a constitutional government
can," said a source inside Mr. al-Jaafari's Shi'ite
electoral slate, suggesting that the various demands
can be resolved only after the new Cabinet is
formed.
"This is everybody playing games right now," he
said.
Both Kurdish and Shi'ite sources said Kurdish
leaders also were holding closed-door meetings with
current Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to see whether
forming an alliance with the secular Shi'ite might
win them more concessions.
The Kurds hold a deal-breaking 77 seats in the
275-member national assembly. The Shi'ite United
Iraqi Alliance holds 140 seats and Mr. Allawi's
party has 44. The rest of the seats are held by a
variety of small Sunni, Islamist and secular
parties.
The makeup allows for a range of political alliances
to form the necessary two-thirds bloc needed to
approve the new president and two vice presidents,
who in turn will form Iraq's new Cabinet.
"If the Shi'ites don't do anything, we will possibly
arrange something with Allawi and the [smaller]
Sunni parties," one Kurdish party member said on the
condition of anonymity.
"We have to get something from the oil revenue, we
have to get Kirkuk back, and we have to have at
least part of the Peshmerga army" protecting
Kurdistan, a three-province area in northern Iraq,
he said.
The Kurdish Peshmerga are fierce fighters who
battled Saddam Hussein for decades and form a large
part of the new Iraqi army. Iraqi leaders are loath
to allow the Kurds their own standing army.
Oil-rich Kirkuk is a multiethnic city that Saddam
tried to empty of Kurds, who have since come
flooding back, claiming the return of their old
homes or some form of compensation. The party member
added that Mr. Allawi, who was in Kurdistan two
weeks ago, had promised the Kurds more than Mr. al-Jaafari.
Marathon negotiations on key governmental positions
and policies have been taking place behind the
scenes in Iraq since the National Assembly was
elected on Jan. 30. "If they don't give us what we
are asking for, then we are not going to be part of
the government," the party member said.
Mr. al-Jaafari, a Shi'ite leader whose candidacy for
chief of government has been blessed by the revered
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, also
recently spoke with Massoud Barzani, head of the
Kurdish Democratic Party.
Sources say that as part of the negotiations Mr.
Barzani likely will become the Kurdish regional
president and that his nephew would be regional
prime minister.
Qubad Talabani said the talks -- the first between
Mr. al-Jaafari and the Kurdish leadership -- left
many details unresolved.
"The key issues are the role of religion in the
state, and the details of federalism: What do we
mean by this? Who has power where? Where are the
political boundaries? How much does Baghdad
interfere in Kurdish affairs?" Mr. Talabani said.
"Kirkuk obviously is critical, we need to rectify
the injustices of the past regime," he said.
"And oil is critical. It is an indicator of how the
new government is going to be. Is it going to
decentralize the oil policy and distribute the oil
wealth, or will it all be centralized? We want
decentralization in every sphere," Mr. Talabani
said.
As the politicians wrestled over the formation and
direction of Iraq's first democratically elected
government, terrorist car bombs killed six policemen
and wounded 15 in new attacks on the country's
security services yesterday.
www.washingtontimes.com
Top |
® 
