Tensions In The Iraqi Oil-City Of Kirkuk

Burning Oil Pipeline In Kirkuk

The Divided And Broken City Of Kirkuk Faces
Up To The Curse Of Oil -- Times Online

It should be Iraq's biggest success story. Beneath the soil of Kirkuk lies oil worth billions of dollars - the world's sixth-biggest reserve.

Yet there is no sewerage system, the roads are cracked, rubbish is strewn all over the pavements, unemployment is as high as 40 per cent and there is no sign of any improvement.

Even more worrying - to the Government as well as to the US-led coalition - is that the city is being pulled between different ethnic groups, making it the most dangerous issue facing Iraq.

The Kurds of Kirkuk, who are a majority and hold the top political and security posts, believe that the city belongs to Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish north.

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My Comment: Ethnic tensions are the Achilles heel of Iraq. Kirkuk and Mosul are the flashpoints.