Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basln Ozeti
January 15, 2001
Kurds Still Dependent on Outsiders
-By-LOUIS MEIXLER Associated-Press-
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) - Kurdish militiamen walk patrols armed with assault rifles and cruise the streets in pickup trucks
mounting heavy machine gUns. Local officials, and not Baghdad, make the decisions on what gets done. Foods and
goods in short supply elsewhere in Iraq are abundant.
Ten years after the Persian Gulf Wai, Iraqi Kurds have realized their dream of governing themselves in a largely
independent area of northern Iraq. But the undeclared state is divided, fragile and dependent on the United Nations
for food and the U.S. Air Force for protection.
Kurds krlow their fighting men are no match for Iraqi helicopters and tanks just 20 miles from Irbil, whose 750,000
people make it the area's biggest city. They worry about losing the U.S. air patrols that have kept Saddam Hussein's
troops at bay since a failed Kurdish uprising a decade ago. "If there were more planes, we'd feel even safer," says
Ibrahim Amin Abdel Rahman, a former militiaman.
Anxiety has been increasing as Iraq's government tries to weaken support for U.N. economic sanctions that have
devastated Iraq's economy by dangling the prospect of lucrative oil deals to oil-consuming nations.
"Could the international community just drop this experience in freedom and democracy after 10 years?" says Sarni
Abdel Rahman, a former Kurdish militia leader who is now a leading figure in the local administration. "I believe
there is a moral obligation, but sometimes economic interests overrule moral obligations."
The Kurdish-run zone was established with the help of Washington and its allies after Saddam brutally put down
the 1991 Kurdish uprising that broke out after the Gulf War, causing hundreds of thousands of Kurds to flee into
Turkey and Iran.
Iraq's Kurds have thrived in their autonomy.
They have freedoms virtually unimaginable in the rest of Ir&q, There are several political parties and newspapers,
and criticism of the Kurdish administration is tolerated although discouraged. "The Internet, which is banned by
Saddam, is permitted. Iraqi Kurds have been battling for their freedom for most of the last century. That fight has
been frustrated not only by Iraqi forces, but also by neighboring Iran and Turkey, which fear Kurdish freedom in
Iraq would encourage restive Kurdish minorities on their territory.
The economy in the Iraqi Kurdish areas is booming. New roads are being built, refugees are being resettled and
shops are kept filled.
But the sense of stability and prosperity
is deceptive.
Although the Kurds are lobbying for the United Nations to keep the sanctions imposed on Iraq after Saddam's invasion
of Kuwait in 1990, they benefit from being one of the largest violators.
An army of tanker trucks - observers estimate as many as 40,000 - haul oil from Iraqi government areas to Turkey, a
rampant business that can create traffic jams at the border stretching six mues. The illicit trade funnels badly nee- .,
ded cash to both Saddam and the Kurds, with the latter earning about $100 million a year.
Oil smuggling income would mostly disappear if sanctions are lifted.
The Kurdish economy also thrives on the United Nations' oil-far-food program, which has pumped $4.6 billion into
the north over the past four years. The program allows Iraq to sell oil and buy food and medicine and repair infrastructure
as an exception to U.N. trade sanctions. The north gets disproportionate help from the U.N. program,
because some money is taken from the Iraqi government's share to cover war reparations and administrative costs.
The result is that the Kurds get about 50 percent more per person than the rest of Iraq.
Despite two years of drought in the north, there are few signs of hunger. Markets are filled with refrigerators from
Turkey, soaps from Syria, even potato chips from Europe. In Iraqi government areas, hunger and want are widespread.
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