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Rice meets Iraqi Kurdish leaders Rice meets Iraqi Kurdish leaders
(about 2 hours later)
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq for talks with leaders. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is holding talks with leaders in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq.
During her visit - the latest leg of a regional tour - Ms Rice will meet Kurdish President Massoud Barzani. During her visit - the latest leg of a regional tour - Ms Rice met Kurdish President Massoud Barzani.
She is expected to urge leaders to work with Sunni and Shia groups, particularly on the issue of sharing Iraq's oil wealth. She was expected to urge the Kurdish leader to work with Sunni and Shia groups, particularly on the issue of sharing Iraq's oil wealth.
On Thursday Ms Rice flew into Baghdad for an unannounced visit and held talks with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.On Thursday Ms Rice flew into Baghdad for an unannounced visit and held talks with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
She warned Iraqi leaders they must act quickly to settle their differences to help tackle soaring sectarian violence. Ms Rice travelled to the mountain retreat of the Kurdish leader, who in recent weeks raised concerns by banning the display of the Iraqi flag in government buildings.
Oil exploration deals that the Kurds have signed with foreign companies have also stirred unease in the Iraqi capital, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Baghdad.
Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq is set out in the federal system adopted by the new Iraqi constitution.
But there are tensions over how it will work, with Sunnis concerned that Kurds in the north and the Shias in the south may split off, taking most of the country's oil resources with them, our correspondent adds.
'Unifying factor'
Ms Rice and Mr Barzani met for 45 minutes and later held a joint press conference, in which Mr Barzani described the talks as constructive.
He told journalists that Iraqi Kurds had "the right to self-determination", but said he was committed to a "federal democratic and pluralistic Iraq", the Associated Press news agency reported.
He also said he was "for a fair distribution of oil revenues for the Iraqis", the French news agency AFP said.
In Baghdad on Thursday, Ms Rice said that oil had to be a resource for the Iraqi people as a whole, "not one that would help to make the country less unified".
Kurdish independence, especially if it meant taking control of the northern oil, is something the Americans would not support, our correspondent says.
Ms Rice is on a tour of the Middle East that has so far included talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as stops in Cairo and Saudi Arabia.Ms Rice is on a tour of the Middle East that has so far included talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as stops in Cairo and Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday she warned Iraqi leaders they must act quickly to settle their differences to help tackle soaring sectarian violence.