KIRKUK, Iraq - Sunni Arabs ended a yearlong political boycott Tuesday in Kirkuk - the hub of Iraq's northern oil fields - under a cooperation pact that marked a bold attempt at unity before a planned referendum on control of the strategic region.
The Sunni-Kurdish deal - urged by U.S. diplomats - could also move ahead other reconciliation bids demanded by Washington but stalled by disputes that include sharing oil wealth and compromising with Sunnis who backed Saddam Hussein's Baath party.
Sunnis have struggled to find political footing since Saddam's fall, as majority Shiites cemented control of the government and security forces and Kurds enjoyed an economic boom in their semiautonomous enclave.
A planned referendum on Kirkuk, possible next year, could give the Kurds another windfall. It will ask whether the province - and its important oil fields - should fall under the Kurdish borders or continue to be governed by Baghdad.
Apart from the petrodollars at stake, Kurds have a strong cultural and emotional attachment to Kirkuk, which they call "the Kurdish Jerusalem." But Kirkuk's Arabs - who include many Shiites resettled by Saddam - largely favor continued rule by Iraq's central government.
Turkey and other countries in the region with Kurdish minorities have long feared that Kurdish rule of Kirkuk would encourage Kurds to break away from Iraq.
Tensions spiked when Sunni Arab lawmakers walked out of the provincial council in November 2006, claiming discrimination by the Kurds. The boycott ended Tuesday after Kurdish lawmakers agreed to allot one-third of government jobs, such as police and other officials, to Arabs and appoint an Arab as deputy governor..........
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