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Iraqi Kurdistan president in Baghdad to
meet Rice 15.1.2008
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January 15, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq', --
Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani is
now in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to meet visiting
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who
arrived in the country on Tuesday morning, a Kurdish
official said.
"Barzani will discuss with Rice the issue of article
140 of the Iraqi constitution pertaining to Kirkuk
as well as other issues on the Iraqi arena," Fouad
Hussein, the Iraqi Kurdistan presidential cabinet
chief, said.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution deal with
disputed areas including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
According to the article, the dispute over Kirkuk
should be solved over three stages: normalization,
demographic consensus,www.ekurd.net
and a referendum on the
status of Kirkuk as to whether it should remain an
independent province or be annexed to the Kurdistan
region. |
Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous Regional
Government of Kurdistan 'Iraq' |
These phases should have been finalized on a
deadline of December 31, 2007 but their application
was postponed for a period of six months.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in
Baghdad on Tuesday to see top Iraqi officials after
Iraq's parliament passed the first in a series of
critical laws aimed at reconciling warring Iraqis.
Rice went straight into a meeting with Shi'ite
Islamist Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after
arriving, a U.S. embassy official said.
Rice was due to hold a news conference with Foreign
Minister Hoshiyar Zebari later.
Kurdistan president discuss security, political
situation
The head of the Shiite Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council
(SIIC) discussed with Iraq's Kurdistan President
Massoud Barzani the political and security situation
in the country, in addition to several issues
pertaining to the region.
"On Tuesday morning, SIIC leader and the head of the
Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC), Abdul Aziz al-Hakeem,
received Kurdistan's president in his Baghdad-based
office and discussed with him recent political and
security developments in the country, and in the
region in particular," read an SIIC statement.
"Such meetings are necessary to push forward the
political process," the statement quoted al-Hakeem
as saying.
VOI
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