Iraqi Arabs revolt over cash offer to quit Kirkuk

By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:54am GMT 10/02/2007

Ethnic tensions in Kirkuk have escalated after Arabs were offered payments to leave the strategic Iraqi city before a referendum that is expected to approve its incorporation into Kurdish territory.

Kirkuk's oil wealth makes the city of 700,000 one of Iraq's greatest strategic prizes. Well before the fall of Saddam Hussein, Kurds declared their intention to claim a city they describe as their "Jerusalem".

According to Iraq's new constitution, Kirkuk is one of three disputed areas that must hold a referendum by the end of this year on joining the northern provinces run by the autonomous Kurdistan Reg-ional Government and its own security forces.

While no date has been set for a vote, Baghdad's decision to offer money has caused widespread alarm. In recent days Kirkuk has seen demonstrations and a spike in violence as its minorities protest against the offer of £7,000 and a plot of land elsewhere in the country to non-Kurdish residents.

Leaders of militia groups have vowed to resist "ethnic cleansing" by force if necessary. "We vehemently reject this decision," said Sheikh Raad al-Najafi, a follower of the radical Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "We will not leave Kirkuk by force or without force. If [the Kurds] try to force us out there will be dangerous reactions."

The payments have been offered by a special Baghdad government committee, the Iraqi Higher Committee for the Normalisation of Kirkuk. >>>cont

LinkHere