Military budget sours relations between Kurdish and Arab leaders

Baghdad: The relationship between Kurdish and Arab political forces in Baghdad is on the verge of slipping down a dangerous slope if the two parties cannot solve a number of pending issues, Iraqi military officials and analysts warned.

These issues, they added, include the fate of article 140 of the Iraqi permanent constitution to decide the future of the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk and some parts of Mosul and Diyala provinces. Kurds want to include it in the Kurdistan region because the areas are inhabited by a Kurdish majority.

Apart from a number of oil contracts, which Kurdish officials have tried to set up independently of the central government in Baghdad, the most "explosive" issue is the Kurdish Peshmerga budget, analysts and military officials said.

Jabbar Al Yawer, a spokesman for the Kurdistan region border guards, revealed that the region had applied for a budget for 100,000 Peshmerga soldiers. A budget to cover pensions for 90,000 retiring soldiers has also been requested.

Surprise

Al Yawer told Gulf News that successive meetings between Kurdish military commanders were held in 2007 to evaluate the budget and recommendations were submitted to the federal government office of Nouri Al Maliki in Baghdad.

Al Yawer added: "These meetings were held in the presence of Abdul Qader Mohammad Jasem, the Iraqi Defence Minister, and David Petraeus, the American Deputy Commander. We agreed to cover the expenses of 76,000 soldiers, besides forming two brigades of 25,000 to be under the authority of the Iraqi Ministry of Defence," he said.

"In addition, [the agreement included] covering the expenses of 90,000 Peshmerga soldiers who deserve retirement pensions.

"But we were surprised that Al Maliki's office asked the Kurdistan region presidency to reduce the number of the Peshmerga from 100,000 to 30,000 soldiers."

According to Al Yawer, the Iraqi government questioned the purpose of the troops. "Al Maliki's office asked whether Kurds intend engage in war with Iraqi opponents or declare their independence, in its reply to the request of the budget. Kurds responded that countering terrorism and border controls require that number of soldiers."

"We are ready to reduce the number of soldiers but it requires securing new opportunities for dismissed soldiers," Al Yawer explained.

He warned that any attempt to resolve the issue without guarantees may lead to a dangerous situation. Al Yawer said that the issue of Peshmerga forces is a documented article in the Iraqi constitution, and the Kurdish request is both constitutional and legal.