Bonni Network

October22,1996

Kurdish Group Ready For Peace

By SUZAN FRASER Associated Press Writer Tuesday, October 22, 1996 4:05 pm EDT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- The leader of an Iranian-backed Kurdish faction told a U.S. envoy Tuesday that his side is ready to halt fighting immediately with a rival Kurdish faction in northern Iraq.

``We are prepared for a cease-fire,'' Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said after meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Robert Pelletreau. ``We could stop fire tomorrow.''

Pelletreau told reporters there was an urgent need for a cease-fire and talks to reconcile both sides. Previous cease-fires have failed to end two months of fighting.

But Talabani indicated he was ready to cooperate with his Iraq-backed rival, Massoud Barzani.

``We shall struggle for a pluralistic democracy in Iraq, where all Iraqis can enjoy their democratic rights,'' Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said after meeting with Turkey's foreign minister, Tansu Ciller.

Iraqi Kurds established a de facto state in northern Iraq after the Persian Gulf War and under the protection of a U.S.-led allied air force. But their internal conflicts led to its collapse.

Barzani told Pelletreau during their first meeting in Ankara last month that his alliance with Saddam was temporary.

Mrs. Ciller said Tuesday that a U.N. oil-for-food plan to allow Iraq to resume oil sales to buy humanitarian aid could begin as soon as a cease-fire agreement took effect and peace was restored.

The U.N. plan to allow Iraq to sell up to $2 billion of oil was about to take effect when Saddam sent troops to northern Iraq to help Barzani's faction.

On Tuesday, Iraq denounced Washington's involvement in the peace mission.

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told the official Iraq News Agency that any foreign intervention, ``whether it was Iranian or American,'' should be prevented.

Aziz called on Barzani and Talabani to start a dialogue in Baghdad.

Before meeting Tuesday with Talabani, Mrs. Ciller met with her Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Velayati, who was in Istanbul for an economic conference.

``Iran assured us that they will not deploy troops and enter into Iraq,'' Mrs. Ciller said.

``We have no intention of protecting one group and throwing out the other group,'' the Turkish news agency Anatolia quoted Velayati as saying. ``Both Barzani and Talabani should learn to live together and we are prepared to mediate between the two groups.''

Pelletreau met Monday with Barzani in a Turkish town near the Iraqi border. He appeared satisfied with those talks and said contacts would continue.

``Our discussions involved ... the desirability of preventing armed intervention from either Tehran or Baghdad,'' Pelletreau said Monday.

During fighting in August and September, Talabani's forces were pushed into Iran, but they launched an offensive this month and retook some ground.

Iraq Kurds dig in for hill defence against rivals 09:08 Oct 22, 1996

HEIBET SULTAN, Iraq, Oct 22 (Reuter) - Kurdish guerrillas prepared defensive positions on a hill in northern Iraq on Tuesday in readiness for a counter attack by rival forces towards the region's capital Arbil, witnesses said.

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) fighters set up mortar and machinegun posts on the steep 500-metre (1,500-feet) Heibet Sultan hill to fend off advancing Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) forces.

``We know from their wireless communications that they are ready to attack so we are preparing a defence,'' local KDP commander Hassan Balamarani told Reuters.

The PUK, led by Jalal Talabani, beat off a KDP attack on the strategic Dukan Dam on Monday in fighting that defied U.S. attempts at ending the conflict.

Some of Barzani's fighters, looking weary, were walking the 35-km (20-mile) back to the hill from Dukan.

``There were a lot of deaths at Dukan, including civilians,'' Balamarani said. He did not say how many people been killed.

Barzani, accompanied by a convoy of around 30 vehicles, spent an hour inspecting his forces encamped at Heibet Sultan, overlooking a main road to Arbil. He refused to speak to journalists.

U.S. envoy Robert Pelletreau was due to meet Talabani in Turkey on Tuesday after talks with Barzani on Monday on a U.S. bid to end the fighting.

Iraq condemned the U.S. efforts and said it was trying to end the inter-Kurdish fighting itself. Iran. Tehran and the PUK deny this.

Iraq condemns U.S. diplomacy in Kurdish north 07:15 Oct 22, 1996

BAGHDAD, Oct 22 (Reuter) - Iraq said on Tuesday it was trying to end the inter-Kurdish fighting in its north and condemned efforts by a senior U.S. official to bring peace to the volatile region.

Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz repeated his government's call for both Kurdish parties to put aside their differences and talk with Baghdad for a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish issue.

``The most importance thing at this time is to end fighting and prevent foreign intervention whether from the Iranian side or American and then procede toward dialogue in Baghdad between the two (Kurdish) sides,'' said Aziz, quoted by the official Iraqi News Agency INA.

``The Iraqi leadership is exerting utmost efforts on this direction during the last few days,'' he said.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which last month controlled most of Iraq's Kurdish area after Baghdad backed it militarily to recapture the city of Arbil, on Monday lost the town of Ranya to the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) group. A week ago it also lost the Kurdish stronghold of Sulaimaniya.

Aziz criticised U.S. peace envoy Robert Pelletreau's visit to Turkey to meet KDP leader Massoud Barzani and the leader of the PUK, Jalal Talabani.

Pelletreau, assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, met Barzani just over the border in Turkey on Monday. He later said the KDP leader was positive about a U.S.-proposed ceasefire with the PUK. He is due to meet Talabani on Tuesday.

``America is fully responsible for the destruction and explosions in the Kurdish autonomous region (Kurdish areas) because it (U.S.) is only serving its own interests,'' Aziz said.

Aziz urged the two factions ``to respond positively to Baghdad's appeal by ending fighting and restorting to dialogue in Baghdad.''