Sunday Night: Security Council and Kurdistan Region

sunday night: The Iraqi government requests neighbouring counties and the countries of the world to deal with the Iraqi federal government exclusively with regards to ports and oil, read a statement from the prime minister's national security council released Sunday night, according to CTV. Earlier Sunday, the Kurdish region's president Masoud Barzani pledged the vote would be held despite pressure from Baghdad and the international community. The referendum is set to be held Monday in the three provinces that make up the Kurdistan region as well as dozens of towns and villages that are disputed, claimed by both Baghdad and the country's Kurds, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. He said that while the referendum will be the first step in a long process to negotiate independence, the region's partnership with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad is over. Only through independence can we secure a future where we will not have the past atrocities, he said. Barzani detailed the abuses Iraq's Kurds have faced by Iraqi forces, including killings at the hands of former leader Saddam Hussein's army that left more than 50,000 Kurds dead. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.