Kurds began to demonstrate against both Saddam and the ineffectiveness of their leaders, chanting "We want bread and butter, not Saddam and not the Kurdistan Front!"

Mesud Barzani stated: "Our governing process is paralyzed.... there is a crisis in the Kurdistan Front."

There are eight groups that make the Kurdistan Front, which acts as the nominal government, although many civil offices have ceased to function.

Kurdish Zones The Kurdistan Front, umbrella group for eight Kurdish groups in northern Iraq, has domain over most of the area above the 36th parallel.

Since the establishment of the zone, the leaders of 8 of the 18 rebel groups have run northern Iraq through the Kurdistan Front.

The crowd had come to beg for assistance from the bank authorities inside, who have dispensed small sums of money to pensioners on behalf of the Kurdistan Front.

In 1988, they joined with other much smaller Kurdish parties, including Socialists, Marxists and Communists, to form the Iraqi Kurdistan Front.

In the last year, in preparation for the May 1992 election, the Kurdistan Front set aside 5 seats (out of 105) for Christians in the new Kurdish Parliament.

The rancor has often paralyzed the Kurdistan Front, the collection of eight Kurdish groups that acts as a nominal government.

"We feel disappointed and betrayed," said Muhyeddin Abdullah, the Washington representative of the Iraqi Kurdistan Front, who began a hunger strike on Monday.