Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, declared yesterday that the national flag should be flown across the nation, countermanding a Kurdish decree that would ban its being flown in the Kurds' northern self-rule region.

The dispute, though mostly symbolic, has the tendency to inflame old tensions over the powers of the self-rule region, in particular its authority over newly developed northern oilfields. "The present Iraqi flag should be hoisted on every inch of Iraqi soil until the parliament takes a decision as laid down in the constitution," Mr Maliki said in a statement issued by his office.