|
Iraqi Kurds raise secession threat over
oil
27.9.2006 |
|
|
|
Erbil,
Kurdistan-Iraq, September 27 ,-- Iraq's Kurdish
regional government raised the threat of secession
on Wednesday if the Baghdad government did not drop
its claims to a say in the development of oil
resources in their northern districts.
In a strongly worded response to comments by the
Iraqi oil minister, the premier of the autonomous
Kurdistan region said he "resented" the remarks by
Hussain al-Shahristani and accused him of trying to
"sabotage" foreign investment in Kurdish oil.
"The people of Kurdistan chose to be in a voluntary
union with Iraq on the basis of the constitution,"
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement
on his official Web site. "If Baghdad ministers
refuse to abide by that constitution, the people of
Kurdistan reserve the right to reconsider our
choice."
Barzani said he was responding to an interview
Shahristani gave to a Baghdad newspaper this week in
which he restated the view of the Oil Ministry that
recent contracts signed by the Kurdish regional
government with foreign firms to develop oilfields
in the area were subject to the ministry's review.
Shahristani, from the dominant Shi'ite Islamist bloc
in the national unity government, has said he
favours strengthening central control of Iraq's oil,
although a new constitution gives autonomous federal
regions a role in developing such resources.
The issue of just how powers are divided between
Baghdad and the regions is at the heart of a bitter
sectarian and ethnic dispute. The government is
drafting legislation to clarify how oil investment
and revenues should be shared with a view to
encouraging foreign investment to develop its vast
resources.
Leaders of the Kurds, about one in five of Iraq's 26
million people, regularly remind Baghdad politicians
that they reserve a right to secede. However, they
are mindful of hostility to their independence from
their U.S. allies as well as from neighbouring
Turkey, Iran and Syria, which also have big Kurdish
populations.
KURDISH CONTRACTS
The Kurds, effectively independent of Baghdad since
breaking from Saddam Hussein's rule in 1991, have
struck two oil deals with foreign firms in the past
year, while the four-month-old national government
in Baghdad has yet to sign new contracts.
In May, Turkey's Genel Enerji and Canada's Addax
Petroleum <AXC.TO> signed a 25-year
production-sharing agreement with the Kurdish
authority for the Taq Taq oilfield. Norwegian firm
DNO <DNO.OL> signed a deal last November to drill
for oil.
Barzani highlighted elements of the Iraqi
constitution which provide for joint control of oil
and gas fields in production. Kurds argue that new
fields fall under regional control.
"I resent Dr. Shahristani's efforts to sabotage
foreign investment in Kurdistan's oil sector," he
said.
"Dr. Shahristani would better spend his time getting
his ministry working rather than tearing down our
achievements."
The Oil Ministry could not immediately be reached
for comment. Shahristani says he wants to encourage
foreign firms to invest in Iraq. Legislation to
regulate such investments is in the works and
ministers hope parliament can pass it this year.
Competition between Kurds and Arabs for control of
Iraq's big northern oilfield around Kirkuk is a
major potential source of conflict. The field lies
outside the present Kurdish region but Kurds want a
referendum to bring Kirkuk into their area.
Many majority Shi'ites are keen to emulate the
Kurds' autonomy but Iraq's parliament this week
agreed to delay the formation of any new regions
until at least 2008 to let passions cool. Formerly
dominant Arab Sunnis fear a new federal region in
the oil-rich, Shi'ite south, along with Kurdish
expansion in the north, could deprive them of the
benefits of Iraq's oil.
Reuters
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 