BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi met Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan Nechirvan Barzani on Saturday to discuss the easing of economic sanctions imposed on the region by Baghdad.
It was the first meeting between Abadi and Barzani since the crisis erupted following Kurdistan’s controversial independence referendum in late September. Baghdad responded by imposing a series of punitive measures including banning international flights to and from the region and closing border crossings to Turkey and Iran.
At the same time, Iraqi security forces launched a major military campaign to regain control of Kirkuk Governorate from the Peshmerga militia and drive the Kurdish forces back.
Kurdish officials are desperate to have the sanctions lifted in the face of public unrest over the ongoing financial crisis in Kurdistan. For the past two years, the regional government has been unable to regularly pay its employees’ salaries because of alleged corruption of a number of authority figures.
Federal officials familiar with the talks on Saturday have revealed Baghdad’s conditions for the easing of sanctions on Kurdistan.
They include recognizing the full sovereignty of the central government over the entire country, including Kurdistan; accepting and enabling federal control inside Kurdistan, particularly of its airports and border crossings; completing all necessary measures for the return of federal authorities and armed forces to the region; ceding full and exclusive control of international borders to Baghdad; committing to the regional borders agreed in the 2003 constitution; handing over the oil extracted from regional oil fields to federal authorities; exclusively exporting oil through the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO); paying in full the salaries of government employees in the region; and submitting the financial accounts of all regional officials to the Office of Financial Supervision in Baghdad.
Baghdad last month announced the formation of joint committees to discuss how best to set up federal authority over Kurdistan, which has enjoyed almost complete autonomy since 2003.
Government spokesman Sa’ad Al-Hadaithi told Arab News, “Saturday’s meeting was positive, and a significant step toward solving the problems with the region and breaking the boycott between Baghdad and Kurdistan.”
“It will, for sure, build momentum for the committees now working to solve those problems.”
Kurdistan, Iraq PMs discuss easing of sanctions
Kurdistan, Iraq PMs discuss easing of sanctions
Drone attack by paramilitary group in Sudan kills 24, including 8 children, doctors’ group says
- Saturday’s attack by RSF occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network
- The vehicle was transporting displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area
CAIRO: A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said, a day after a World Food Program aid convoy was targeted.
Saturday’s attack by the Rapid Support Forces occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war.
The vehicle was transporting displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area, the group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants.
Several others were wounded and taken for treatment in Rahad, which suffers severe medical supplies shortages, like many areas in the Kordofan region, the statement said.
The doctors’ group urged the international community and rights organizations to “take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations.”
There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war against the Sudanese military for control of the country for about three years.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country, leaving tens of thousands dead and millions displaced.
