The United Arab Front (UAF) and Arab Council (AC) have intensified their rivalries over Kirkuk governorship to the fact that they have accused one another of corruption, Arab division and disorder.
The rivalries were publicly perceived when the United Arab Front, in a statement, asked for the removal of Rakan al-Jabouri from Kirkuk governorship, adding that Jabouri has been “negligent and has used governorship” for his personal and partisan interest.
Kirkuk, an Arab protest, 2019. Photo: KikrukNow
The AC responded to AUF in a statement, in which it says that, “such parties want to secure governorship based on ethnic, political or tribal incentives or based on personal interest.”
“Such stances are irresponsible and those parties have been tested by the people, and they have failed every time. The people of this ethnic group do not accept them. That is why they have turned to negative actions and have caused disunity,” the statement mentions.
The UC also claims that the disagreements the UAF have will led to “planting the seeds of chaos, hindering reconstructions and service deliveries as well as coexistence between the people of the city.”
The leaders of the two most prominent tribes, Al-Jabouri and Al-Ubaid, in Kirkuk, have formed the United Arab Front and the Arab Council, both of which are in tough competition to establish their supremacy over the institutions of Kirkuk province, accusing each other of being “corrupt and weak at administration.”
The rivalries have started since October 16, 2017, when Rakan al-Jabouri was appointed as the acting governor of Kirkuk at the order of the former prime minister, Hadier al-Abadi, happening after the withdrawal of the Kurdish forces in the city as well as the dismissal of the Kurdish governor, Najmadin Karim.
Kirkuk, the leaders of the United Arab Front are having a meeting, May 2020. Photo: UAF
The UAF issued another statement after its call for the dismissal of al-Jabouri, claiming that, “you [Rakan al-Jabuori] involved yourself in the rivalries… you neglected the rights of the tribes and rushed to give more rights to another tribe. You did not preserve the relations between the Arabs in Kirkuk.”
“Arabs lost Kirkuk due to your carless attitudes, so you are held accountable for a historical responsibility, in front of the people of this ethnic group,” the latest UAF statement says.
Earlier, the Turkmen Eli party also called for the replacement of al-Jabouri with a Turkmen governor and accused him of lack of transparency and failure.
In the meantime, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have tried to regain Kirkuk governorship and nominated a candidate based on its agreement with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), however, the agreement was rejected by Turkmen and Arabs of the city.
