Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Parliament debate on draft oil law unlikely to go smoothly
Oil
(Reuters) - Iraq's parliament may take a week to start debating a landmark draft oil law, officials said on Wednesday, as complaints from Kurdish authorities and Sunni Arab politicians signaled its passage could be rocky. Washington has pushed Iraq for months to speed up passage of the law and other pieces of legislation, which are seen as vital to curbing sectarian violence and healing deep divisions between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
Presentation of the draft to parliament after the cabinet approved it on Tuesday was a big step towards meeting a key political target set by the United States. But Mohammed Abu Bakr, head of parliament's media office, said the law had to first go to the energy and oil committee. "We need seven days to get the draft on the agenda of parliament to discuss it," he said.
The oil law is intended to ensure a fair distribution of the world's third largest oil reserves, which are located mainly in the Shi'ite south and the Kurdish north of Iraq. Sunni Arabs, the backbone of the insurgency, live mainly in central provinces that have little proven oil wealth and have long feared they would miss out on any windfall.
In a sign of future trouble, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it had not seen nor approved the draft. "We hope the cabinet is not approving a text with which the KRG disagrees because this would violate the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan region," the KRG said in a statement.
Presentation of the draft to parliament after the cabinet approved it on Tuesday was a big step towards meeting a key political target set by the United States. But Mohammed Abu Bakr, head of parliament's media office, said the law had to first go to the energy and oil committee. "We need seven days to get the draft on the agenda of parliament to discuss it," he said.
The oil law is intended to ensure a fair distribution of the world's third largest oil reserves, which are located mainly in the Shi'ite south and the Kurdish north of Iraq. Sunni Arabs, the backbone of the insurgency, live mainly in central provinces that have little proven oil wealth and have long feared they would miss out on any windfall.
In a sign of future trouble, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it had not seen nor approved the draft. "We hope the cabinet is not approving a text with which the KRG disagrees because this would violate the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan region," the KRG said in a statement.
Labels: draft oil law, energy and oil committee, Iraqi parliament, KRG
