UNITED NATIONS, June 11: UN Special envoy to Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi has expressed hope that Shias and the Kurds would find common ground to settle their differences.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Brahimi said: "It is not like one side or the other is being unreasonable."

"I am sure they will find common ground for Iraq to continue along this rather difficult and challenging transition toward stability," he added. Ayatollah Ali Al-Hussain Al-Sistani and other Shia leaders as well as the Kurdish leaders were all "very, very responsible people," he said.

The simmering dispute came to a head with the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Tuesday endorsing an interim Iraqi government on June 30, but omitting Transitional Administrative Law that provided for Kurdish self-rule.

Mr Brahimi said: "The Kurds are talking about guarantees for a minority, a minority that has suffered a great deal and lots of promises were made to them and they were betrayed in the past."