Kurdish party hits UNSC vote for US-UK rule in Iraq

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Stasi" <stasi@xxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject: [Peoples War] Iraqi Kurdistan: Kurds fear for role of
political
movements - FT

Kurds fear for role of political movements
By Charles Clover in Baghdad
FT.com site; May 22, 2003


The United Nations reso- lution lifting sanctions on Iraq does not
take
account of Kurdish interests and has given Iraqi political movements
less of
an incentive to participate in running the country, a Kurdish leader
said on
Thursday.

Hoshyar Zebari, spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic party, the
largest
Kurdish party in Iraq, said the resolution gave a subordinate role to
an
interim administration to be composed of Iraqis.

"The resolution will not motivate the political forces in the country
to
form an interim government, because the coalition [the US and UK] is
going
to run the country and they don't need partners," said Mr Zebari
yesterday.

"I think this resolution will complicate the political process in the
country, it could even aggravate the situation on a security level."

In addition, he said, the resolution put the northern Kurdish region
at a
"great disadvantage". It removed from Kurdish control Iraqi oil
revenues
which were earmarked for the Kurdish region, made up of three northern
provinces, under the oil-for-food programme.

Under the new resolution all Iraqi oil revenues minus 5 per cent
earmarked
for a compensation fund for Kuwait will go into the Development Fund
for
Iraq, a trust-fund like entity that is mandated to spend the money
"for the
benefit of the Iraqi people".

Mr Zebari said it was still unclear what would become of the 13 per
cent
quota on Iraqi oil revenues dedicated to the northern Kurdish region.
"They
seem to want to put it all in a national pot. This will be a great
disadvantage for us."

He said that up to $4bn currently deposited in the oil-for-food escrow
account belonged to the Kurdish government, and that the resolution
left the
disposal of that money unclear. According to the resolution, the
oil-for-food programme will continue for six months, after which all
remaining money in the account must be transferred to the development
fund.

The oil-for-food money designated for Kurdistan is largely responsible
for
the region's recent economic boom. The region was given US protection
following the Gulf war and has evolved into a largely independent
area, with
its own government and parliament based in Arbil.

"Before 1991 we were the most backward area in Iraq," he said, "and
now we
are the richest place in the country. This is something we want to
hold on
to."

Iraq's Kurds were key allies in the US-led campaign to unseat the
regime of
Saddam Hussein, but feel their loyalty has so far gone unrewarded. US
leaders are keen to discourage any hint of separatism by the Kurds,
who have
said they will seek a federal Iraq with Kurdistan as one federal
region.

US officials have said they are willing to contemplate federalism as a
solution to Iraq's ethnic troubles. But key disagreements exist over
longstanding Kurdish claims that the provinces of Kirkuk and Mosul be
included in a federal Kurdish entity, as well as their claim that a
share of
Iraq's oil wealth be earmarked for them. Mr Zebari said Kurds would
like
this share to be 25 per cent.

Mr Zebari said they had received assurances from the US that, until
there
was a new Iraqi constitution, Kurdistan would continue to have its own
administration.




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