Kurd leader again threatens secession, this time over oil

Guard at Kurdish oil site. Sunni's were particularly alarmed when in December, 2005, the Kurds signed an indepndent agreement with Norwegian company DNO.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The head of the Kurdistan Regional Government has threatened to break away from Iraq in a dispute over control of oil resources, revealing deeper fragmentation between provincial and federal governance.

The prime minister of the KRG, Nechirvan Barzani, said Wednesday the relatively stable northern region -- autonomous since 1991 -- might break from the fragile tripartite republic if oil contracts it has signed aren't recognized by the government in Baghdad.

Their rift represents more than a squabble over federalism's reach, but a country occupied by foreign troops, progress stalled by daily violence, moving toward total fracture.

Key leaders in parliament reached a tentative deal Sunday quelling attempts, for now, to amend the constitution to allow more autonomy for the regions. The Kurds as well as a faction of Shiites in the oil-rich south are in favor of this, while it's opposed by the minority Sunnis in the oil-barren middle of the country and a Shiite bloc eyeing a prominent role in a stronger, centralized government.

Barzani, in a statement released by the KRG, responded to Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani's comments that the central government doesn't have to respect oil deals signed by the regional authorities.

"I resent Dr. Shahristani's efforts to sabotage foreign investment in Kurdistan's oil sector," he said. "Dr. Shahristani would better spend his time getting his ministry working rather than tearing down our achievements."

The KRG has signed a handful of production-sharing and drilling deals with small international oil companies and conglomerates. Barzani said foreign investment since 2003 has topped $100 million, including newly found oil reserves, though the infrastructure to transport the oil to market is under constant attack.

Major oil companies have stayed away because of the regional dispute, experts say.

Read the rest at UPI

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