Source:
ReutersIraq's Kirkuk running out of time for poll: U.S.Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:30AM EDT
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A referendum that will determine
the status of the potential flashpoint Iraqi city of
Kirkuk is unlikely to go ahead on schedule, the U.S.
ambassador to Iraq has said.
The referendum for the ancient northern city, provided
for in the Iraqi constitution, was due by the end of the
year but has become bogged down in sectarian
differences.
"There is a general realization out there that, as a
practical matter, it is going to be very hard to stick
to the original timetable," U.S. ambassador Ryan
Crocker told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad late
on Thursday.
-snip-Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic mixing pot of Kurds, Arabs,
Assyrians Turkmen and Armenians 250 km (155 miles)
north of Baghdad, has plenty of oil, but may not have
much time left to avoid being dragged into Iraq's
intractable cycle of sectarian bloodshed, analysts
fear.
-snip-Read more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1778122620070817