Leaders of the two main Kurdish parties of autonomous South Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, have met in the country for the first time in seven years, agreeing to overcome past animosity for the sake of Kurdish unity. Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), and Jalal Talabani, president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), met in the town of Irbil, pledging to "settle within a month" all differences, and calling for the convening of a regional Kurdish assembly on October 4. Both leaders have been courted by the United States in its effort to galvanize opposition groups for possible military action against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. KDP and PUK officials see the talks as an opportunity to forge a unified Kurdish position on military options and the structure of a post-Hussein Iraq.
