Kurdish Leader Predicts Iraq Accord

Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said Friday he expects to sign an agreement this month with President Saddam Hussein giving autonomy to Iraq’s 3.5 million Kurds.

“There will be an agreement by the 15th of June, or maybe the 20th of June,” Barzani told reporters at a Baghdad hotel.

Barzani, leader of the largest Iraqi Kurdish rebel faction, said May 18 that Kurdish leaders reached agreement in principle with Hussein on democracy for Iraq and autonomy for the Kurds. But no pact has been forthcoming.

An agreement could help solve the dilemma of U.S.-led allied forces trying to protect Kurds who fled Hussein’s forces after an uprising in March. The troops want to leave but fear that withdrawal could lead to reprisal attacks by Iraqi forces.

Also on Friday, the Office of the U.N. Disaster Relief Coordinator in Geneva reported that an acute shortage of funds is preventing the deployment of hundreds of U.N. guards to the Kurdish camps.

The report said that only $4.5 million has been pledged despite an international appeal for nearly $35 million to fund the guards. Only 40 guards have been sent so far.