UN options on Iraq border row
Thursday, August 21, 2008
THE UN will by end October offer a package of "options" to resolve territorial disputes in Iraq, including in volatile and oil-rich Kirkuk claimed by both Arabs and Kurds, an official said yesterday.
"We will present between September and October options for a grand deal for the disputed areas including Kirkuk, which is the hottest issue in Iraq these days," said Staffan de Mistura, the chief of UN mission in the country.
There are 12 regions in northern Iraq, including Kirkuk province, that are disputed by various ethnic sects.
The UN provided in June a report to Iraq's presidency council on four of the regions — Akra, Hamdaniyah and Mahmur in the restive province of Nineveh and Mandali in the violence-wracked central province of Diyala.
The reports on seven others will be given to the council by September, Mistura said.
Among the seven, four regions are in Nineveh — Tal Afar, Sinjar, Turke and Shaikhan.
The other disputed regions are Kifri in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, Khanakin in Diyala and Tuz in the central mainly Sunni Arab province of Salaheddin.
De Mistura said the UN was approaching these disputes by tackling the smaller regions first in a bid to finally resolve the controversial issue of Kirkuk. "It's like getting to the hard core of the problem by addressing the soft areas as an example of political discussion," he told reporters at his office in Baghdad's heavily fortified diplomatic area, the Green Zone.
This will prove that there is a "process of political give and take which applied to the easiest place" and "should in a way apply to the most difficult place which is Kirkuk," he added.AFP
"We will present between September and October options for a grand deal for the disputed areas including Kirkuk, which is the hottest issue in Iraq these days," said Staffan de Mistura, the chief of UN mission in the country.
There are 12 regions in northern Iraq, including Kirkuk province, that are disputed by various ethnic sects.
The UN provided in June a report to Iraq's presidency council on four of the regions — Akra, Hamdaniyah and Mahmur in the restive province of Nineveh and Mandali in the violence-wracked central province of Diyala.
The reports on seven others will be given to the council by September, Mistura said.
Among the seven, four regions are in Nineveh — Tal Afar, Sinjar, Turke and Shaikhan.
The other disputed regions are Kifri in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, Khanakin in Diyala and Tuz in the central mainly Sunni Arab province of Salaheddin.
De Mistura said the UN was approaching these disputes by tackling the smaller regions first in a bid to finally resolve the controversial issue of Kirkuk. "It's like getting to the hard core of the problem by addressing the soft areas as an example of political discussion," he told reporters at his office in Baghdad's heavily fortified diplomatic area, the Green Zone.
This will prove that there is a "process of political give and take which applied to the easiest place" and "should in a way apply to the most difficult place which is Kirkuk," he added.AFP
Business Besides Oil
