Monday, August 13, 2007
Kurdish officials dismiss reports of attack on Swedish plane
Security
(Kurdistan Observer) - Aviation officials from Iraq's Kurdish region on Saturday dismissed reports that a Swedish airliner had been targeted by a missile as it took off with 130 passengers on board. According to the Swedish TT news agency, the pilots of a Nordic Airways MD-83 jet saw flashes in the sky on Thursday as they took off from Sulaimani in Southern Kurdistan and feared they may be under attack.
But the chairman of the Sulaimani Airport Authority, Kamaran Ahmed, said a local investigation found no evidence that a missile was fired and blamed the scare on bright lights being used on the ground."We think that the object that had been noticed by the pilot 'suspiciously' was a special type of 'high intensity lighting projector' mounted on vehicles usually used by hunters in the area," he said, in a statement in English. The beam could also have been from a light used by farmers during a rush to harvest in the region, the statement added, while insisting that security forces had searched a 30-kilometre (18-mile) diameter area around the airport.
The Kurdish regional government also said there was no reason to worry."No plane at the Sulaimani International Airport has come under attack. This is untrue and baseless news," its spokesman Khalid Saleh told AFP. Autonomous Kurdish region is proud that it has managed to escape the worst of the violence that has gripped the centre and south of the country since the US-led invasion of March 2003. The mountainous region has opened air links to several European and regional destinations and launched an international advertising drive designed to lure tourists and investors to Sulaimani and its capital Arbil. Nordic flies from Stockholm to Sulaimani once a week.
Labels: Kamaran Ahmed, Khalid Saleh, Nordic Airways, Sulaimaniya, Sweden
Monday, June 25, 2007
Kurdistan region to take 17 per cent of all Iraq oil revenue
Oil
(Reuters) - Kurdish officials said on Thursday they had reached agreement with the central government on equitably sharing revenues from Iraq's oilfields but that negotiations would continue on other disputed clauses. Earlier, Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said all the areas of dispute in a landmark draft oil law had been resolved and the bill had been submitted to parliament.
The draft, crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's huge reserves will be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups, was approved by the cabinet in February but faced stiff opposition from Kurds, who felt they were getting a bad deal. Most oil reserves in Iraq are in the Kurdish north and Shi'ite south.
Khalid Saleh, spokesman for the Kurdistan regional government, said agreement had been reached on Wednesday on a revenue sharing mechanism. Under the deal, the Kurdistan region will take 17 percent of all oil revenue from Iraq. The money will be deposited into a Kurdistan regional account in the central bank.
"This deal is a big victory for the political process in Iraq," Saleh told Reuters. But, he said the annexes in the draft had not yet been discussed. The Kurds say the annexes are unconstitutional because they wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state oil company.
They also cover control over discovered and undiscovered oilfields and who would have the power to negotiate contracts with international oil companies. Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves and officials have been struggling since last year to finalize the draft law, which is vital for Iraq to attract investment from foreign firms to boost its oil output and rebuild its economy.
The latest disputes broke out not long after the oil ministry in Baghdad warned regions in late April against signing contracts until the law was passed. The Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies.
The draft, crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's huge reserves will be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups, was approved by the cabinet in February but faced stiff opposition from Kurds, who felt they were getting a bad deal. Most oil reserves in Iraq are in the Kurdish north and Shi'ite south.
Khalid Saleh, spokesman for the Kurdistan regional government, said agreement had been reached on Wednesday on a revenue sharing mechanism. Under the deal, the Kurdistan region will take 17 percent of all oil revenue from Iraq. The money will be deposited into a Kurdistan regional account in the central bank.
"This deal is a big victory for the political process in Iraq," Saleh told Reuters. But, he said the annexes in the draft had not yet been discussed. The Kurds say the annexes are unconstitutional because they wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state oil company.
They also cover control over discovered and undiscovered oilfields and who would have the power to negotiate contracts with international oil companies. Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves and officials have been struggling since last year to finalize the draft law, which is vital for Iraq to attract investment from foreign firms to boost its oil output and rebuild its economy.
The latest disputes broke out not long after the oil ministry in Baghdad warned regions in late April against signing contracts until the law was passed. The Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies.
Labels: draft oil law, Khalid Saleh, KRG
