Iraq: more clouds ahead

The future of contested oilfields is one issue bound up with Iraqi Kurds' independence hopes

The military defeat of the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq should herald a new, peaceful era for the country, with the resettlement of thousands of displaced families and the rebuilding of towns and cities. Instead, a dark autumn cloud has appeared on the horizon in the form of an independence referendum to be held in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq on 25 September. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership insists that the vote is designed to measure the desire of the Kurds for independence, rather than trigger an automatic process leading to statehood. Nevertheless, the whole subject of the Kurds seeking their own state is an extremely sensitive one for the federal government in Ba