Date:24/04/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/04/24/stories/2003042402821400.htm

International

Panel to solve Iraqi ethnic crisis

ARBIL (Iraq) APRIL 23 . Iraq will set up a commission to resolve disputes between Arabs and thousands of Kurds displaced from their homes in Saddam Hussein's rule, Kurdish and the U.S. officials said today.

Kurdish leaders reassured the retired U.S. General, Jay Garner, overseeing Iraq's reconstruction, who is visiting the Kurdish-held north, that they would not take reprisals against Arabs following the fall of Mr. Hussein' s regime. Mr. Garner arrived in northern Iraq on Tuesday to a hero's welcome 12 years after he helped the Kurds break free from Mr. Hussein.

There was a similar reception when he flew into Arbil on Wednesday after talks the day before with rival Kurdish leaders, Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Some Arab families in northern Iraq say armed Kurds have ordered them out of their homes.

Reuters