Maliki Visit to Erbil Results in Joint Committees to Resolve Disputes

by Armando Cordoba 9/6/2013

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—In the biggest step forward in nearly two years of talks, Baghdad and Erbil agreed Sunday to have joint committees study and advise on solutions to their serious territorial, energy and budget rows.

The decision to form the seven joint committees, between the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), was taken during a visit to Erbil by Iraqi Prime Minster Nuri al-Maliki, who has been trying to soften to the Kurds as he faces a Sunni uprising and spiraling sectarian violence.

The committees will work mainly to conclusively revise the federal budget, revise the oil and gas draft law, work toward resolutions over disputed regions listed in constitutional Article 140 and oversee the border crossings and airports in the country.

“There should be open dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad in order to solve these issues,” said Maliki, who met with KRG President Massoud Barzani.

Maliki told a news conference that Baghdad was ready to move forward on the second step of the three-step process in Article 140, which was created when the Iraqi constitution was passed in 2003 following the US- led invasion of Iraq and the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein.

According to Maliki the first step – which is the normalization of Kurds and other residents displaced by Saddam’s Arabisation campaign – has already been completed.

The article was supposed to have been implemented by 2007, making it five years behind schedule, with still the second and third steps to be completed.

The second step looks to conduct a census to determine the demographic makeup of provincial populations, which will allow for the repatriation of the Arab populations in disputed areas.

Maliki also expressed support for a KRG initiative to turn Halabja district into a province, using the framework of the Iraqi Constitution. Funding would need to be allocated from the federal budget to rebuild the district into a province, according to the KRG.

“We are both working toward having policies for the former Iraqi victims,” Maliki said.

Halabja was the tragic venue of Saddam’s March 1988 poison gas attack, in which 5,000 Kurdish civilians were killed, many of them women and children.

The meeting between Barzani and Maliki also spurred discussions over how to bring stability to Iraq, which has been marred by sectarian violence as Sunni protesters look to oust Maliki from the premiership.

More than 1,000 people were killed in sectarian violence across Iraq in May, making it the deadliest month in nearly five years, according to figures released by the United Nations.