Kurds offer to freeze independence vote

ARBIL: Iraqi Kurdish leaders offered yesterday to freeze the outcome of last month’s vote for independence, taking a step back in a major crisis that prompted Baghdad to seize swathes of disputed territory. The offer came as world powers scrambled to avert any further escalation of the conflict between the key allies in the fight against the Islamic State group that has seen more than 30 combatants killed. Washington, Moscow and the United Nations have all pressed Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani to open talks with Baghdad on a way out of the crisis

sparked by the fateful September 25 vote that he called.

The Kurdistan Regional Government, led by Barzani, said it would “propose to the (federal) government and Iraqi public opinion... the freezing of the results of the referendum... and the start of an open dialogue... on the basis of the constitution.” It also called for “an immediate ceasefire and cessation of military operations in Kurdistan”. Since early last week, Iraqi federal troops and allied militia have retaken virtually all of the territory held by the Kurds outside their longstanding three-province autonomous region in the north.

In most areas the Kurds withdrew without a fight, although in the Little Zab valley close to their regional capital Arbil there was fighting and in all at least 31 combatants were killed. The independence referendum deeply divided Iraqi Kurdish leaders and many commanders ordered their forces to pull back without resisting. —AFP