Kirkuk dispute bedevils Iraq's political crisis

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ef17ef92-b0a3-11da-a142-0000779e2340.html

The future status of the oil-rich disputed province of Kirkuk lies behind Iraq's current political crisis - complicating the creation of a stable post-invasion political order.


Iraqi leaders yesterday overcame the most recent obstacle to forming the first permanent post-invasion government, a seemingly minor but nonetheless bitter disagreement over when parliament should meet.

Parliament is now set to meet on March 19, four days later than a constitutional deadline, after the Shia demanded more time to settle disagreements over Ibrahim al-Jaafari, prime minister.

The Jaafari dispute however is only a symptom of deeper rifts.

Iraq's newly elected legislature is split almost down the middle between the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia-led ruling coalition of which Mr Jaafari's Dawa party is a member, and an alliance comprising Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and allies of the secular-leaning Shia leader Iyad Allawi who say they cannot work with him.