Kerry urges Kurds to save Iraq from collapse
24 June 2014, 16:04 -- John Kerry arrived in Iraq's Kurdish region Tuesday in a US diplomatic drive aimed at preventing the country from splitting apart in the face of Sunni militants pushing towards Baghdad. Iraq's security forces have managed to retake a crucial border crossing along the frontier with Syria, but were struggling to contain advances by insurgents, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who have taken swathes of five provinces north and west of the capital.
The US Secretary of State's unannounced trip to Arbil came a day after he pledged 'intense' American support to Iraq to repel the insurgent offensive which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, alarmed world leaders, and put Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki under pressure at home and abroad.
Kerry landed in Arbil to urge Iraqi Kurdistan's president Massud Barzani to work to uphold Iraqi cohesion, after Barzani said Iraq was in a 'different era' and that Kurds would 'determine their future'.
Kerry would highlight 'the important role that the Kurds can play in helping the central government address... challenges for the benefit of all Iraqis,' State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
More than 1,000 killed in Iraq this month - UN
At least 1,075 people have been killed amid the current wave of violence in Iraq in June, the UN human rights office reports.
Most of the dead were civilians, said Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He added that the tally of dead 'should be viewed very much as a minimum.'
It includes alleged executions of civilians and police, as well as non-fighting soldiers.
Kerry in Kurdistan to urge leaders to be part of national gov't
US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday to urge its leaders not to withdraw from the political process in Baghdad after their security forces took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, Reuters reports.
'The Secretary's visit will be very important both to confer with the Kurdish leadership and also encourage them to play a very active role in this government formation process, including choosing a very strong president who can represent both Kurdish interests but also Iraqi interests,' said a senior US State Department official who briefed reporters.
Iraq's largest oil refinery under control of Sunni tribes – media
Sunni tribal fighters in Iraq took control of the country's largest oil refinery in Baiji. This was announced today by 'Al Arabiya' TV channel. According to 'Al Arabiya', the government troops, guarding the enterprise laid down the arms and left, after which the territory was occupied by the so-called 'revolutionary Arab tribes' who oppose the central Shiite Nouri al-Maliki government.
According to the information received, the army units delivered up the factory, located 40 km north of Tikrit (administrative center of the province of Salah al-Din) without a fight after negotiations of armed forces with the tribal sheikhs, informs ITAR-TASS.
Last week, the extremist group of 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant', who has taken already several districts of the country under its control, tried to seize refineries. However, according to Sunni fighters, they have no relation to the terrorists, and the currents events in the country presented as a rebellion or 'people's revolution' against the government of al-Maliki.
It is known that the group consists of many former soldiers of the Iraqi army from the times of Saddam Hussein and the ousted Ba'ath Party functionaries, whose aim is to overthrow the Shiite prime minister and to form the Iraq government which will take into account the interests of all ethnic and confessional communities in the country. In particular, the officials of the military command of the revolutionary tribes claim that Mosul, Tikrit and a number of other cities and border are controlled by them and not by the ISIL.
As was reported by Arab TV channels, the streets of Baiji are celebrating the 'liberation' of the refinery.
Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_06_24/ Kerry-to-push-Kurds-on-Iraqi-unity-8844/
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