Kurdistan Observer

ARBIL, The two main Kurdish factions sharing control of northern Iraq are poised to seal an agreement on the implementation of contentious provisions in a 1998 US-brokered peace deal, informed sources said here Tuesday.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani are expected to announce here Wednesday that they have agreed on "final formulas for resolving" the remaining issues in dispute, the sources in this KDP stronghold told AFP.

They described Wednesday's meeting as the "most important" in a series of meetings officials of the two sides have held to discuss implementation of the deal signed in Washington four years ago.

The Hawlati newspaper, published in PUK-controlled Sulaymaniyah, said on Monday that the two parties had agreed to hold elections for a new regional parliament within six to nine months, "conditions in the area permitting", and to allow each faction to reopen offices in the zone controlled by the other.

The KDP and PUK often fought each other in the past for predominance in the Western-protected enclave in northern Iraq, which has been off-limits to the Baghdad government since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

But Barzani and Talabani agreed during a meeting in Germany in mid-April to complete implementation of the 1998 peace accord and pool their resources to combat Islamist radicals in the area.

The KDP-PUK rapprochement comes against the backdrop of US threats to launch a military strike against Iraq and topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein.