Iraq’s cabinet held a landmark meeting in the country’s Kurdish region on Sunday to defuse tensions linked to disputes over territory and oil that diplomats warn are among its biggest threats to stability.
The long-running rows have provoked sharp exchanges between the two sides, and while no tangible measures are expected to be agreed on Sunday, the mere fact that talks are taking place is seen as a positive sign.
Violence meanwhile has been rising to levels not seen since 2008 as the Shiite-led government has struggled to head off months of protests by Iraq’s Sunni minority, which analysts say has given militant groups fuel and room to manoeuvre on the ground.
“I am very pleased that this meeting is being held in Arbil,” Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in remarks before meeting with Kurdish regional premier Nechirvan Barzani.
“This is one step along the path towards resolving all outstanding issues. Their importance is sometimes exaggerated, and sometimes these issues get out of hand,” he added in the televised remarks.
“There is a strong desire to find solutions to all these problems.”
Baghdad and Arbil have been deadlocked over several issues for years.
Both sides lay claim to a tract of land that stretches from Iraq’s eastern border with Iran to its western frontier with Syria, and they also disagree over the apportioning of oil revenues and the signing of contracts with foreign energy firms.
The latest meeting will be followed by talks between cabinet ministers and Kurdish regional ministers and a direct meeting between Maliki and Kurdish president Massud Barzani, who will then lead the Iraqi premier on a tour of the Kurdish capital.
It comes just days after the interior ministry in Baghdad issued a strongly-worded statement calling for Kurdish forces to withdraw from disputed territory, threatening a fragile peace between the two sides’ militaries.
Maliki’s spokesman Ali Mussawi told AFP, meanwhile, that the Arbil meeting would be followed by a cabinet session in the predominantly Sunni Arab western province of Anbar, where anti-government protests have been raging since December.
He did not specify a date for the cabinet meeting.
Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority has decried alleged targeting and wrongful arrest by the Shiite-led authorities.
Iraq cabinet in Kurdistan to defuse tensions
