MASROUR BARZANI REPORTS BREAKTHROUGH IN KRG

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 000067

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ KRG
SUBJECT: MASROUR BARZANI REPORTS BREAKTHROUGH IN KRG
GOVERNANCE NEGOTIATIONS

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., David M. Satterfield for reason
s 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) Masrour Barzani, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
President Masoud Barzani's son and advisor, telephoned DCM
staff assistant on January 7 to relay that Kurdistan's two
main political factions -- the Kurdistan Democratic Party
(KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) -- had come
to an agreement to consolidate governance of the KRG,
eliminating the redundant regional ministries administered by
the dueling political parties.


2. (S) Masrour Barzani highlighted that:

-- Irbil will serve as the KRG's capital, home to all
regional ministries and the regional parliament.

-- The KRG ministries of Finance and Peshmerga Affairs are to
be headed by KDP officials, while the Justice and Interior
ministries will be administered by PUK officials. "Shadow
ministers" from the opposing party will help ease the
transition until ministries are fully united.

-- A PUK official will continue to lead the KRG Parliament,
while the KDP will continue to hold the regional prime
minister's office. Masoud Barzani will remain the regional
president until at least 2007.

-- A formal, written agreement will be passed by the KRG
Parliament immediately following the Eid al-Adha holiday --
on approximately January 15.

-- There will be a big push to unite the two parties'
peshmerga forces in order to create a non-partisan regional
security force.


3. (S) COMMENT: This announcement appears to have come as a
surprise even to many Kurds within both the KDP and PUK
politburo structures. Many of the Embassy's Kurdish
interlocutors just a few weeks ago flatly stated that the
merger was just "public relations." If indeed the merger
takes place, it will probably dismay many of the Arab
politicians negotiating Iraq's national government formation,
as Kurdish unification would limit opportunities to exploit
the fissures and mistrust between the KDP and PUK. A close
examination of the merger details, however, reveals the
serious weakness of the PUK. They backed down on their
demands for limiting the Prime Minister position to a
one-year rotation and for ensuring that no one party got
control over both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister,
and they ceded control over the unified peshmerga to the KDP.
In addition, the agreement states that the new seat of the
unified KRG will be in Irbil, a Barzani stronghold. Ongoing
tensions may yet open up avenues for other groups, both
inside and outside Iraq, to try to split the Kurdish support
base for their own interests. END COMMENT.
KHALILZAD