As Kurd and Arab clashes surge, a third war is looming in Iraq

The Iraqi Kurds are not seeking statehood, calculating that this is not now in their interests, but they want a degree of autonomy that amounts almost to the same thing. "If there is no federal solution there is no hope for this country," Mr Barzani told The Independent in his mountain-top headquarters in Salahudin overlooking the Kurdish capital, Arbil.

Mr Barzani's refusal to allow the Iraqi flag to be hoisted was sharply criticised by politicians in Baghdad. The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, produced a bizarre endorsement of his national emblem saying: "Not only the Kurds were slaughtered under this flag, but many Iraqis were slain under this flag. Iraq was slain under this flag."

But to many Arab Iraqis the flag means a lot. In Mosul, where Arabs and Kurds are in conflict, the mainly Arab police force went around insisting that shopkeepers and public buildings fly the Iraqi flag. A month later, street-sellers were doing a steady business selling miniature Iraqi flags to drivers.

The Kurdistan over which Mr Barzani rules is the only peaceful part of Iraq and has been so since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Made up of the three Kurdish provinces of Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah, the enclave escaped rule from Baghdad in 1991 after the Kurdish uprising and was protected by US over-flights.

Arab Iraqis got used to the idea that this wholly Kurdish enclave known as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) enjoys semi-independence. But it is the Kurdish determination to allow Kurdish majority areas in the rest of northern Iraq, notably Kirkuk, to join the KRG that is leading to a deepening conflict between Arabs and Kurds on the ground.

Iraq is already the site of two wars, one between the Iraqi Sunni community and the US that started in 2003 and a second sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia Arabs that began in 2005. Iraq may now be beginning to suffer a third war, between Arabs and Kurds in the northern provinces.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1772326.ece