By Xinhua
Baghdad : Iraq’s Kurdish regional government has welcomed the non-binding decision of the US Congress to divide the war-torn country into three entities, while Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki rejected it saying it would be a “catastrophe”.
“People and government of the Kurdistan region welcome the US Senate decision calling for rebuilding Iraq on the basis of federalism,” the Kurdish regional presidency, headed by Masoud Barzani, said in a statement.
Late Wednesday, the US Senate approved, with 75 votes for and 23 against, a non-binding draft decision proposing the division of Iraq into three entities — Kurdish, Shia and Sunni — with a federal government in Baghdad responsible for border security and supervision of oil production.
The Kurdish leadership emphasised that dividing Iraqi into three entities “is the only viable solution to the problems of Iraq”, adding that the federal system “does not mean division for the country, but rather voluntary union”.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vehemently rejected the resolution describing it as a “catastrophe” and called for the Iraqi parliament to hold a session devoted to discussing the resolution.
“The resolution is weird, because it is an Iraqi affair dealing with Iraqis. Iraqis are eager for Iraq’s unity. Dividing Iraq is a problem, and a decision like that would be a catastrophe,” Maliki told reporters on his way back from New York, where he appeared at the UN General Assembly.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni body said to be close to several insurgent groups fighting the US-led occupation, condemned the decision in a statement, saying whoever backed the decision was a “traitor to his religion, his nation and his home”.