Iraq To Allow Self-Rule For Pro-Baghdad Kurds

Iraq is nearing a deal to give self-rule to pro-Baghdad Kurds in the north, the Iraqi foreign minister was quoted Saturday as saying.

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf provided no details of the arrangement disclosed in comments to the Arabic service of the British Broadcasting Corp.

Iraqi soldiers overran an internationally designated Kurdish safe haven in northern Iraq on Aug. 31 to help Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party crush his Kurdish rivals and establish control in the region.

That gave Saddam Hussein influence in the area for the first time since the safe haven was declared at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The zone - over which Iraqi warplanes are not allowed to fly - was established to protect its inhabitants from Hussein’s military.

Since his victory, Barzani repeatedly has said his alliance with Hussein is over and that he has no plans to sign any political accords with Baghdad.

There was no immediate KDP comment on the broadcast monitored in Cyprus.

Barzani has claimed he had no choice but to ask Hussein’s help because similar requests made to Washington were ignored.