Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) and Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani (R) speak to each other during a joint news conference in Arbil, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Baghdad June 9, 2013. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
ARBIL/BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited the Kurdistan region on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in a symbolic step towards resolving a long-running dispute over oil and land that has strained Iraq's unity to the limit.
Better relations with the Kurds could take some pressure off the country's Shi'ite leadership, which is facing a surge of violence it blames on Sunni Islamist insurgents invigorated by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
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