Kurds to merge ‘rival’ governments

 

By Shiraz Abdulrahman

 

Azzaman, 2005-03-31

 

The two major Kurdish factions in the north have decided to unite their separate administrations.

 

The Kurds have been running two governments, one in Sulaimaniya and the other in Arbil since the factions fell out in 1995.

 

But the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) headed by Jalal Talabani, which swept the January elections in the region, have apparently buried their differences.

 

Barzani has endorsed Talabani’s quest to become Iraq’s next president and the two leaders have agreed to have one unified government administering the Kurdish region from Arbil.

 

“The merger is moving smoothly and soon the Kurds will have one unified government in Arbil,” said a source involved in talks on how to unite the two administrations.

 

Meantime, Barzani is reported to have turned down an offer to become the Kurdish region’s president.

 

He is said to be more interested in running the daily affairs of his own party and concentrating on how to improve living conditions in the semi-independent region.

 

Kurdish-controlled areas are relatively calm in comparison to other parts of the country where U.S. troops and Iraqi forces are battling an escalating insurgency.

 

The Kurds are involved in tough talks with the winners of the January elections, a coalition of Muslim Shiite factions, over the nature of the central government in Baghdad.

 

Sticking points include the future of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk which Kurds would like to annex to their autonomous region and the legal status of Kurdish militias called locally Peshmergas.

 

Both Barzani and Talabani have rejected calls to disband their militias.

 

And the militias’ leader, Hameed Fandi, has reiterated that his forces “will not lay down arms” but can be incorporated into the Iraqi army “under special arrangements.”