Kurdish parties claim $4 billion owed

The agreement among UN member states for a resolution to lift sanctions in Iraq (ending the oil-for-food programme) has been condemned by Kurdish leaders. Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani have jointly written to the chief allied administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, outlining their concerns about US plans for redistribution of unspent funds from the program. Under the oil-for-food program, which allowed Iraq to sell oil in exchange for food and other essentials, the safe haven in Northern Iraq collected 13 per cent of total sales of oil. Kurdish officials say that $4 billion of this money is yet to be paid over to them; and that it is required for ploughing into infrastructure and services in the region. Under the Bremer plan, those remaining funds wound be combined with others and placed in an internationally-monitored fund for the benefit of the whole nation.