BAGHDAD, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Iraqi political leaders are making progress on a law that would distribute oil revenues to provinces based on population, The New York Times reported Friday.
A law could be critical to the country's future because almost all the country's oil is in Kurdish and Shiite areas, and Sunni Iraqis fear they would be cut off from one of the major sources of wealth, the newspaper said.
The negotiations brought Shiite and Sunni officials together against the Kurds, who wanted regional control over revenues. But the Kurds are becoming more amenable to distribution based on population.
"Revenue sharing is an accepted principle by all the constituent elements of the Iraqi government, including the Kurds, and that is the unifying element that we're all hoping for in the oil law," Barham Salih, a deputy prime minister and a Kurd, told the Times.
One proposal to end sectarian violence is the division of Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions. That plan depends on giving Sunnis a share of oil revenues, the newspaper said.
