Arab, Kurd rift evident as election day nears

[unhappycamper]

A Kurdish Peshmerga general, center, gestures during a discussion on where to put joint Kurdish-Arab election day checkpoints in northeastern Diyala province, an area claimed by both ethnic groups. U.S. Lt. Col. Mike Kasales, left, spent three weeks mediating negotiations between the groups.


Arab, Kurd rift evident as election day nears
By Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, January 31, 2009

KHANIQIN, Iraq — As Arab Iraqi generals and Kurdish Peshmerga leaders finished tense closed-door negotiations about who will police this dusty, disputed corner of Diyala province during upcoming elections, a Kurdish fighter guarding the door dropped any pretense of diplomacy.

"I want to be honest with you. We don’t need Arab guys over here," Peshmerga Sgt. Abbas Akram said.

The meeting ended three weeks of grinding between leaders of the two armies, both of which say their soldiers must be in northeastern Diyala province — as well as parts of two other provinces — to protect their people from intimidation and violence.

Sipping cups of chai following the meeting, Kurdish and Arab military leaders were careful to say they have worked out their differences, but Iraqi soldiers, citizens, and outside analysts say violence, or even civil war, is a distinct possibility between Kurds and Arabs in northern Iraq.

Iraq’s Kurdish semi-autonomous area comprises the three northernmost provinces, Dahuk, Irbil and Sulaymaniyah, and is administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government. The government operates outside the control of the central government and, much to Baghdad’s chagrin, has even negotiated its own oil contracts.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60358