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Leading Kurdish Parties Strike Broad Provincial Administration Agreement

The two main political parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region inked an agreement on provincial administration. (AFP)
The two main political parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region inked an agreement on provincial administration. (AFP)
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Leading Kurdish Parties Strike Broad Provincial Administration Agreement

The two main political parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region inked an agreement on provincial administration. (AFP)
The two main political parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region inked an agreement on provincial administration. (AFP)

The two main political parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region inked Monday a “comprehensive agreement” on provincial administration following months of arduous talks.

The deal, signed in Erbil by Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Kosrat Rasul Ali of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), should now facilitate the formation of the region’s next government.

Since legislative elections were held last September, political parties in the Kurdistan have struggled to form a new government. The polls saw the KDP win 45 seats in the 111-member Kurdish Assembly and the PUK win 21 seats.

Informed sources said the deal, details of which remain vague, includes 18 items on sharing power and ministerial portfolios between the two parties.

They said the deal should also normalize the administrative situation in the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil and that the two parties discussed the appointment of a new governor in Kirkuk.

In principle, the KDP has conceded to the PUK’s demand that the governor be a member of its party.

Officials from both parties said the new four-year agreement is set to replace the so-called “Strategic Agreement” of 2005, which united the Kurdistan Region into a unified KRG administration.

Also, both the PUK and the KDP agreed on the post of Iraqi justice minister, who is traditionally a Kurdish figure.

“Today is a day that will go down in the history of our nation, when the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party signed a political agreement,” said KDP spokesperson Mahmoud Mohammed.

PUK spokesperson Lateef Shiekh Omar told reporters: “It is an agreement that will be the compass and guideline for our joint work for now and the future.”

A committee has been set up to oversee the deal’s implementation.

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Arab World

Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.