In Iraq’s disputed territories, a health services vacuum

http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97771/In-Iraq-s-disputed-territories-a-health-services-vacuum

Photo: Hermione Gee/IRIN

Iraq’s disputed territories are claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil. In Kandal village, neither government provides significant services

KANDAL, 2 April 2013 (IRIN) - At 9am in the northern Iraqi village of Kandal, female residents are gathering in the leafy courtyard of the local mosque. But they have not come to pray; they are here to see the doctor - a rare opportunity in this part of the country.

Kandal sits on a busy main road connecting Erbil, capital of the northern autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, to Kirkuk, one of several disputed territories. Located in Makhmour District, in Kirkuk Governorate, the land Kandal sits on is claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

Although the status of the disputed territories was supposed to be resolved by a referendum before the end of 2007, the vote still has not taken place. Meanwhile, their residents have been caught in between, with neither side willing to provide basic services.

“This place is not a country,” said Jwan Abdullah, an English teacher at the small village school. “We have no government; there is no doctor, no hospital. We don’t have a [phone] number for emergencies, and we need this.”

There is only one small clinic in the nearby town of Makhmour to service the area’s nine villages, which have a total population of around 300 families. The clinic is a small general practice, ill-equipped to handle many cases.

“My son broke his arm playing football,” said the local mukhtar, or village leader. “And they just gave him a pain killer and said we had to go to the emergency hospital in Erbil,” some 100km away.

Falling between the cracks

KRG would like to build a permanent hospital in the area, says Raad Najmadeen, director of medical services at the Erbil Directorate of Health. But the political situation in the region means any attempt to do so would be seen as a land grab.

“The problem is, as I see it, if you build a health centre, this land will be allocated to the [KRG] Ministry of Health, so you will make this land permanently for the ministry… They may see that we are taking the land by this process. So it’s sensitive.”

Instead, these villages depend on visits from KRG’s mobile hospital - which has an operating unit, a dental unit, a lab, an x-ray, and ultrasound and gynaecological support - and a mobile team with ambulances stocked with simple medication and equipment. But these visits occur only once or twice a year.

The Kurdish government has plans to set up an emergency unit halfway between Makhmour and Erbil that would service the district and give residents access to an emergency number and to ambulances.

But in the meantime, the lack of any emergency services means transportation is a problem, particularly for women in Kandal, none of whom knows how to drive.

Political tensions continue between Erbil and Baghdad

Saturday, 01 October 2011,

Voices rise against Kurdish demands

By The Globe

Political tensions continue between Erbil and Baghdad

Government and many Iraqi political parties revealed last week their stances on suspended issues Kurds want to see finalized. Officials close to government welcomed new negotiations while other parties pressured the government to "ignore" Kurdish demands.

Resolving issues between Erbil and Baghdad tops political talks in Iraq as the Kurdistan Regional Government plans for a decisive visit to find out the Iraqi government's view on fulfilling Kurdish demands, mainly concerning the disputed areas, the status of federalism, commitment to the Constitution and the country's gas and oil legislation.

A recent reaction came up from Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric leading the Sadr bloc, which has 40 seats in the Iraqi Parliament. Al-Sadr, in a letter published on Sept. 27, replied to a fellow leader on the Kurdish request to incorporate some of the disputed areas into Kurdistan Region.

"The pace of provocation," Sadr said, has been raised by some powerful Kurdish leaders and parties. Some of these provocations are [played] in Kirkuk or with the demand for annexing Khanaqin and Sadiya to Kurdistan Region," said the Shiite leader, accusing Kurds of exploiting the circumstances when tensions rise between the two majority Iraqi political groups of State of Law led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Al-Iraqiya, led by Iyad Allawi or when the deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal nears.
"This is what we have been warning about that federalism will bring about issues with consequences that are not good," added Sadr, referring to the federal entity of Kurdistan Region.

On the other hand, some Arab MPs representing provinces with disputed areas spoke of their doubt whether there are "secret agreements" for compromising over Kirkuk by Allawi in favor of the Kurds.
"We are representatives from Kirkuk, Ninewa, Diyala and Salahaddin, and demand uncovering all the secret agreements have been signed between Baghdad and Erbil governments and what has been declared without clarity until now must be explained and discussed in the Parliament," said Omer al-Juburi, an MP from Al-Iraqiya party, in a press conference on Sept. 26.
Al-Juburi denied MPs have seen any of the secret deals containing compromises on the Kirkuk issue; but their doubt comes as "leaders of the Al-Iraqiya party have kept silent about statements by leaders from the Kurdistan Coalition on the future of Kirkuk, politically and constitutionally."

This doubt was first raised by members of local councils in Kirkuk who threatened to withhold support for the Al-Iraqiya party and switch to Maliki's State of Law on these issues.

This statement was the first of its kind trying to merge two of major key problems in Iraq; one is a political dilemma among the ruling parties particularly between Maliki's and Alawi's parties. The other is the long-running constitutional issue of Kirkuk.

Tensions between Maliki and Allawi date to the parliamentary elections in March 2010. Based on the Erbil Agreement initiated by Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani in September 2010, Maliki formed cabinet in return for creating Political Council for High Strategies to be headed by Allawi. This council has not yet been formed and security ministries of Maliki's cabinet are still vacant because of differences between him and Allawi.

Adnan al-Danbus, another member of Al-Iraqiya, denied the accusations from Arab leaders in Kirkuk that Al-Iraqiya's head and leaders are compromising over Kirkuk. He described the statements as political attempts targeting Allawi. He further defended Allawi, noting that he "would never compromise on any national issue, especially when it is a constitutional issue like Kirkuk.? He explained that an article in the constitution deals with issue and would give the final decision.

He also denied rifts in the Al-Iraqiya party, particularly between Allawi and Nujaifi; by saying this, he denied media reports published after a meeting between Nujaifi and Maliki.

Fuad al-Durki, a State of Law MP, also denied there are secret deals or compromises between the political parties. He underestimated of tensions between the Kurdistan Regional and Baghdad governments. The problems between Erbil and Baghdad, he said, are normal and can be solved through dialogue and based on the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Council of Ministers ordered a committee to prepare a detailed report on the procedure of implementing Article 140 of the Constitution for the council to make a decisive decree about, said Dabagh, spokesman of the Iraqi government. This committee includes members from the Committee for Implementing Article 140, the cabinet general secretary, ministries of defense, interior and agriculture, the board property claims and a representative from the KRG.

A high-ranking KRG delegation is expected to visit Baghdad to hear Maliki's government stance on Kurdish questions regulated in a letter of 19 items based on the Kurds allied in the current government. One the controversial items conditions the government to fully implement Article 140 in two years.

Tension between Erbil and Baghdad mounted once again when the Iraqi Council of Ministers passed a draft law for gas and oil in early September. Following that, President Barzani called Kurdish leaders in Baghdad for a meeting in Erbil to make a decision about the Iraqi government's attitude. The meeting concluded with sending a delegation to Baghdad to note the seriousness of the government in meeting Kurdish demands.

CRISIS GROUP M-E REPORT: OIL FOR SOIL

OIL FOR SOIL: TOWARD A GRAND BARGAIN
ON IRAQ AND THE KURDS
Middle East Report N°80 – 28 October 2008


TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i
I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1
II. THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES CONUNDRUM ...................................................... 5
A. TERRITORIES IN DISPUTE ..........................................................................................5
B. A NEW UN ROLE................................................................................................................7
C. RESPONSES TO UNAMI’S PROPOSALS........................................................................11
III. ESCALATING CONFLICT OVER OIL...................................................................... 14
A. DEVELOPING KURDISTAN’S OIL WEALTH..................................................................................15
B. OIL IN KIRKUK AND OTHER DISPUTED TERRITORIES .................................................................19
C. THE BATTLE OVER THE HYDROCARBONS LAW..........................................................................23
IV. POSSIBLE COMPROMISE SOLUTIONS.................................................................26
A. A TERRITORIAL COMPROMISE ..............................................................................26
B. A GRAND BARGAIN ......................................................................................................27
V. CONCLUSION................................................................................................................ 32
APPENDICES
A. MAP OF IRAQ..................................................................................................................34
B. MAP OF DISPUTED TERRITORIES CLAIMED BY THE KRG.................................................................35
C. MAP OF OIL AND GAS CONCESSIONS IN THE KURDISTAN REGION....................................................36
D. MAP OF OIL AND GAS RESOURCES IN THE KURDISTAN REGION AND DISPUTED TERRITORIES..........37
E. MAP OF GOVERNORATES AND DISTRICTS ....................38
F. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP ...............39
G. CRISIS GROUP REPORTS AND BRIEFINGS ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA......................40
H. CRISIS GROUP BOARD OF TRUSTEES...............................................42

Please click on the link below to read the Crisis Group Report:

http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/middle_east___north_africa/iraq_iran_gulf/80_oil_for_soil___toward_a_grand_bargain_on_iraq_and_the_kurds.pdf