ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Despite the removal of customs points between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq's provinces and the unification of customs offices between Erbil and Baghdad, trucks in Duhok carrying goods and services still are barred from driving to Mosul.
After several meetings between the Iraqi federal and Kurdistan regional governments’ customs departments, both sides have agreed to apply a single customs policy at border crossings and airports across Iraq — including the Kurdistan Region.
The agreement officially took effect on Sunday, but Nineveh authorities are not allowing trucks to enter Mosul.
"Two months ago, the Iraqi finance ministry decided for the customs points between Duhok and Mosul to be removed, but it was not implemented as they wanted to weaken the Ibrahim Khalil crossing. And this time, though the decision has been made for three days now, they do not implement it," said Izzat Fatah, the head of the Duhok Customs Department.
Ibrahim Khalil is the only official crossing between Iraq and Turkey. It is under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government and its security forces.
"Though all the employees have left the Duhok-Mosul customs point, trucks are not allowed to transport goods and services into Mosul," Fatah added, explaining "more than 3,000 trucks [now] are queued at the Badrike customs point."
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who was also acting as finance minister, established three customs points between the Kurdistan Region and elsewhere in Iraq. They have since “officially” been removed and deemed illegal by the Iraqi parliament.
Corruption has been rampant in successive Iraqi governments across the country.
"Some security officials in Mosul were capitalizing on this customs point. Now that the decision has been made that no items are subject to tariffs, they do not allow any goods into Mosul on the pretext that they do not have the necessary tools to inspect commodities."
Nineveh and Anbar provinces are particularly war-torn. At the same time as they are being rebuilt, officials are concerned of an ISIS resurgence or evolution.
The bulk of the disputed areas went under federal control in October 2017. The Erbil-Kirkuk-Sulaimani road was closed for months and high tariffs were introduced when it finally reopened.
Iraq is highly in debt and any cost barriers hinder rebuilding a country fractured by cycles of conflict.
Reporting by Nasr Ali