Iraqi Politicians Agree Deal On Sharing Oil,
Says Kurd Minister
Michael Howard in Sulaymaniya
Thursday June 21, 2007
The Guardian
Iraq's Kurdish leaders said last night they had
struck an important deal with the central government in Baghdad over a law to
divide up Iraq's oil revenues, which is seen by the Bush administration as one
of the benchmarks in attempts to foster national reconciliation.
Ashti Hawrami, the minister for natural
resources in the Kurdistan regional government, told the Guardian the text had
been finalised late last night after 48 hours of "tough bargaining" with
Baghdad. The deal represented "a genuine revenue sharing agreement" that was
transparent and would benefit all the people of Iraq and help pull the country
together, he said.
Iraq's oil revenue accounted for 93% of the
federal budget last year. Iraq sells about 1.6m barrels a day.
Mr Hawrami said the law provided for the setting up of two "regulated and
monitored" accounts into which external and internal revenues would be
deposited. The external account would include items such as oil export earnings
and foreign donor money, while the internal fund would consist largely of
customs and taxes. The federal government in Baghdad would take what it needed,
and the rest would be automatically distributed to the Kurdistan regional
government, which would get 17%, and to Iraq's governorates "according to their
entitlement". Revenues would be distributed monthly, he said.
Mr Hawrami said the system would better enable
Iraqis to track how and where the oil funds were being spent. The Kurds, for
example, have complained that remittances to their self-rule region have been
being held back by up to six months in Baghdad. Iraq's Sunni Arabs had also
expressed concerns that they might miss out on their share.
Iraq's finance minister, Bayan Jabr, and the
oil minister, Hussein Sharistani, were accompanying the president, Jalal
Talabani, on a state a visit to China and could not be contacted for comment.
The new deal came days after a visit to Iraq by the US defence secretary, Robert
Gates, during which he rebuked politicians for failing to reach consensus on
sharing oil revenues. The US sees the deal as a benchmark of progress toward
reconciliation.
A western diplomat in Baghdad said last night:
"Fair-sharing of Iraq's oil revenue is important to finding a sustainable
political solution in Iraq. But on its own it will not halt the sectarianism."
