VZCZCXRO3020
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0624 0520557
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210557Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9789
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 000624 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: UNIFICATION OF KRG JUSTICE MINISTRY 
 
 
 This is a Regional Reconstruction Team Erbil cable. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) 
authorities attended formal ceremonies to mark the 
long-awaited unification of the PUK and KDP Ministries of 
Justice 6 February 2007.  The separate PUK and KDP ministries 
of Finance, Interior, and Peshmerga continue working on 
resolution of outstanding organizational structure, 
budgeting, and control issues.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (KDP), Deputy 
Prime Minister Omar Fatah (PUK), Deputy Speaker of the KNA 
Kamal Kirkuki (KDP), and other notables attended a ceremony 
at the Ministry of Justice building in Erbil to mark the 
unification of the two KRG ministries of Justice.  The 
ministries of Finance, Interior, and Peshmerga (regional 
defense) are still under the separate control of the KDP in 
the provinces of Erbil and Dohuk and the PUK in the province 
of Sulaimaniyah, a legacy of the separate PUK and KDP regimes 
until 2006. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The now-former KDP Minister of Justice, Azad 
Mullah Effendi, will retain the rank of minister of region 
(often internally termed  minister of state,).  The PUK 
Minister of Justice Faruq Makki will direct the newly 
combined KRG Ministry of Justice. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani, in his speech on this 
occasion, said the KRG should use the opportunity of the 
ministry,s unification to review all laws and procedures. 
He asked for foreign advisors to assist this process and said 
the entire judicial system should be re-evaluated.  Stressing 
the importance of justice in democratic life, he called for a 
new focus on the rule of law. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Comment:  Each of the remaining divided ministries 
-- Finance, Interior, and Peshmerga ) presents a different 
fundamental challenge to the evolving KRG political system. 
Trust between the PUK and KDP is still tentative at the level 
of ministers and directors general in the ministries touching 
on security, because most of these office holders were 
actively involved in the military confrontations between the 
two parties in the 1990s.  Integrating financial oversight 
would provide transparency between the party apparatuses even 
if not to Baghdad, and this is also a highly sensitive point 
within the KRG.  It is probable that unification of these 
remaining ministries, especially those handling security, 
will be delayed because of the two parties, unwillingness to 
relinquish party control of armaments and troops.  End 
Comment. 
KHALILZAD