Mini-summit in Erbil over political crisis in Iraq

On Saturday, Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, will witness a mini-summit which will gather together the President of the Iraqi Republic Jalal Talabani, the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani, the Iraqiya bloc leader Ayad Allawi and the leader of the Sadrist movement Moqtada al-Sadr, in addition to the Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Usama al-Nujayfi and the governor of Nineveh,  Atheel Najafi, to discuss the current political crisis. An informed source told Arabstoday that the leaders of the mini-summit have agreed to draw-up a memorandum of understanding to resolve the the current political crises which they have called “Erbil second agreement”. The source added that the leaders will issue a closing statement and hold a press conference to announce the main points addressed in the meeting without going into detail. Holding the summit in Erbil is a political move aimed at finding solutions to the current crisis amid the increasing tensions between Kurds and the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Moqtada al-Sadr arrived in  Erbil on Thursday in response to an official invitation from Barzani. The al-Ahrar bloc which is aligned to the Sadrist Movement, said that the most important issue Sadr has discussed with Barzani concerns Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who Sadr does not wish to run for a third term in office.