Minister resigns over vote on Kirkuk

Iraq:Iraqi justice minister Hashem al- Shibli resigned on Saturday to protest at last week's decision of the cabinet to hold a referendum in oil-rich Kirkuk to decide whether it would join the Kurdish autonomous region or remain an Arab province.

The party to which Mr Shibli belongs, the secular Iraqi National List headed by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, opposes the referendum, which is laid down in article 140 of the disputed 2005 constitution.

Mr Shibli is apparently not prepared to oversee the referendum or support the government's plan to offer $15,000 (€11,270) and land to Arab residents who settled there under the Baathist regime if they return to their home towns and villages.

While the relocation plan is said to be voluntary, armed Kurdish elements and police have been harassing and driving Arabs and Turkomen from their homes in Kirkuk ever since the Baathist regime fell four years ago. The Kurds' aim is to resettle Kurds in the region in order to transform its demography ahead of the referendum.

The Iraqi National List is not the only party to oppose the movement of Kurds into Kirkuk and the relocation of Arabs and Turkomen. The Sunni Iraqi Accord Front and the Shia United Iraqi Alliance also seek to stall over the Kurdish demand that the referendum should take place by the end of the year.

These parties can muster a comfortable majority in the 275- seat parliament if the Kurds insist on going ahead with a vote. This could create deadlock between Arabs and Kurds and force prime minister Nuri al-Maliki to resign.

A large proportion of Arabs who went to Kirkuk at the behest of the Baathist government were Shia farm and urban labourers escaping poverty in the south. Although thousands have been forced from homes claimed by Kurds, many have remained in displaced persons camps nearby.

The prospect of securing jobs in a revived oil industry or otherwise benefiting from oil-driven development encourages them to stay put. Their leaders are determined to foil the Kurds' scheme for taking over Kirkuk. The area is seen as a ticking bomb because Arabs and Turkomen could fight Kurds for possession of the city and the neighbouring region. Turkey has also threatened to intervene militarily if the Kurds attempt to annex Kirkuk by force.

Brig Gen Qassin al-Moussawi yesterday announced the US- Iraqi campaign to pacify Baghdad has resulted in a surge of violence elsewhere.

In March, the Iraqi civilian death toll rose to 1,872 compared to 1,604 in January and 1,552 in February. US military deaths for the month stood at 81, two fewer than in February, while 44 Iraqi troops and 165 Iraqi policemen died.

At least 500 of the Iraqi civilian fatalities took place last week, nearly 200 in the northwest city of Tel Afar where car bombs killed 152 Shias and rampaging Shia police murdered 47 Sunnis.

Fatalities rose in spite of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's order to his militia not to engage US and Iraqi troops or attack Sunni civilians.