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Analysis: Baghdad and Kurds Close the Gap

Council on Foreign Relations

April 30, 2008
Author: Greg Bruno

In March, despite few signs of progress on an Iraqi national oil law, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources readied for a hiring spree. Calls went out for legal advisors, engineers, and geoscientists—thirty-five oil and gas experts in all. At the time the job postings seemed like wishful thinking; Baghdad and Irbil, capital of the Kurdish autonomous region, appeared sharply divided on how to develop the region’s massive oil wealth. But one month later, the want ads appear to have been a harbinger for warming relations between the Shiite-dominated central government and the northern Kurdish region. Iraq’s chief government spokesman has hinted that a national oil agreement is imminent (UPI), and an Iraqi paper reports “major concessions” (Azzaman) have been reached.

Diplomatic breakthroughs have been rare on chief issues dividing Iraqi Kurds and Shiite parties in parliament. The regional government’s practice of signing oil contracts with more than a dozen international firms irked central government leaders, and sparked warnings from some analysts that Kurdistan had “overreached” in its ambitions (NYT). Parliament’s stonewalling of funds for the autonomous region’s peshmerga security forces also frustrated Kurdish officials. Qassim Dawd, an Iraqi parliamentarian and member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s party, said in January the disagreements had produced “ups and downs and mistrust between the two sides” (IWPR).

But there are signs regional relations are on an upswing. On April 12, Maliki agreed that Kurdistan’s regional security forces “have the cover of legitimacy” (AP) and will be organized within two Iraqi army divisions of up to thirty thousand troops. The decision came amid a Maliki-led crackdown on militia groups elsewhere in Iraq.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.