Iraqi Kurds say peace deal on track, but yet to get down to details

ARBIL, (Southern Kurdistan) Oct 23 (AFP)  The two main factions running the northern Iraqi Kurdish enclave insist that a US-sponsored reconciliation process is on track, but admit many complex details central to their past disputes have yet to be even broached.

Alluding to the difficulties in bringing together the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) ahead of a possible US attack on Baghdad, Kurdish officials revealed it took scores of meetings to merely bring the two together in their regional parliament here in Arbil.

"We are bound to have differences, and I am not going to say we are totally united on everything," Barham Salih, the PUK's prime minister, told AFP at the party's base in Sulaimaniyah.

"But these two different parties are understanding their differences better than before. And they are more than willing to live with those differences," he added.

"The prognosis for the Kurdish reconcilation process, in my opinion, is very good," said Salih. "Public opinion is behind it, and the momentum is too great."

On October 4 the Kurdish parliament endorsed a US-brokered deal between PUK leader Talabani and KDP chief Massoud Barzani at its first session in six years.

One KDP official revealed it took more than 70 different meetings to get the regional parliament, which was elected in 1992, to convene.

Since the enclave was declared off-limits to Baghdad in 1991, the two have fought bitter turf battles that have left thousands dead.

At one point Barzani even invited Saddam Hussein's forces into Arbil to oust the PUK from the city -- an enormously embarrassing event for Washington which was forced to pull out its CIA team from the area.

Under the September 8 accord -- itself designed to complete implementation of a 1998 US-brokered deal -- next week the PUK and KDP are due to open political offices in each other's territories, which are run more like fiefdoms with little connection to the regional government.

They have also committed to restoring property seized in fighting, facilitating movement across their respective areas, and releasing detainees still held since their armed conflict.

"Not only will the deal last, but we are confident that relations will improve even further," said the KDP's Jawher Nahmegh Salim, a deputy of Barzani, when asked if the two factions could finally bury their differences.

But one of the major sources of dispute, that of customs revenue, is far from being solved.

The KDP controls the west of the enclave, including lucrative trade routes that link Iraqi Kurdistan with Syria, Turkey and Iran which net the faction massive tax everyday.

"They (the KDP) are making millions on a daily basis. We have an agreement on sharing revenue, so far they are not sharing any of it," complained one PUK source.

The KDP was formed in 1946, while the PUK was formed after a split in 1975. Many PUK officials still privately view the well-heeled KDP as bourgeois, feudalist and tribal, while KDP officials still consider their rival as an urban leftist irritant.

"We are taking it a step at a time," explained the PUK's Salih. "We acknowledge our differences and I'm not telling you we have resolved every problem."

And while the PUK and KDP have agreed on the broad shape of a post-Saddam, federal Iraq, they have yet to coordinate their military activities for a US attack that both now see as inevitable.

A potential source of friction is a scenario that would see zones such as the oil-rich, Baghdad-controlled city of Kirkuk fall to the Kurds in the event of a US attack.

Both factions see the city as the future capital of a federal Iraqi Kurdish region, something that could prompt them to make rival dashes for the lucrative area.

But what both admit is that, with another war on the horizon and Iraqi Kurds facing a make-or-break phase in their dream of securing greater autonomy, their relations will be put to a real test.

"Both parties and both leaderships understand the imperative of unity at this time when Iraq and the region are up for fundamental changes," said Salih.

"I believe both sides have realised, by deeds, the futility of conflict. Nothing can override the imperative of unity. The future of our people is at stake and it would be shortsighted of us to be sidetracked from the big picture."