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Iraqi Lawmakers Stall Over Kirkuk Power-Sharing Proposals


Iraqi lawmakers failed Sunday to resolve a dispute about power-sharing proposals for the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Osman tells VOA Kurdish Service that the different sides were unable to reach an agreement and indefinitely postponed their special parliamentary session.

But he said parliament did receive a proposal that could be a basis for an agreement among the political groups.

Iraqi lawmakers have been debating a draft local elections law that would allocate seats in Kirkuk's provincial council equally among its ethnic groups - Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen. Currently, Iraqi Kurds and their allies have a majority in the assembly.

In the latest violence in Baghdad, Iraqi police say a car bomb killed 12 people and wounded at least 22 others near a passport office in the northern Adhamiya district.

Saturday, hundreds of minority Arabs rallied in Kirkuk's Hawija district to protest Kurdish calls for Kirkuk to join the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. The Arab protesters demanded that Kirkuk remain under the control of Iraq's central government.

Iraqi Kurdistan region president, Massud Barzani, is hosting a high level meeting in Baghdad to discuss the situation with representatives from the Iraqi prime minister and president, Americans, British and United Nations.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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