Delay in finalizing cabinet is harming Iraqis: UNAMI
UNITED NATIONS, New York – The head of the United Nations mission to Iraq said the months of delay in completing the government cabinet is a “great concern” that is damaging to the Iraqi people.
“The slow completion of the Iraqi government is undoubtedly a great concern,” UNAMI chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the UN Security Council in her first regular briefing in the role. She took over earlier this year from Jan Kubis.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi still has three empty chairs at his cabinet table – interior, defence, and justice. Shiite lawmakers cannot agree on who to put forward for the interior ministry, while Sunnis are similarly divided over the defence ministry, and Kurds over the justice post.
Their disputes have resulted in parliamentary delays, protests, and boycotts.
Hennis-Plasschaert said this situation means the government cannot get fully and seriously to work to consolidate gains made against terrorism and focus on reconstruction and providing services.
“Ultimately, the people of Iraq are bearing the brunt of the political stalemate,” she said.
While urging the politicians – almost exclusively male – to “overcome political infighting,” she pointed out that “there are excellent and experienced Iraqi women well-qualified to perform the job.”
Hennis-Plasschaert similarly advised the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to speed up its government-formation process.
Iraq ‘not a priority’
Baghdad submitted a formal complaint to the Security Council on Wednesday about Turkish air strikes, using harsher language than it usually does to condemn the violation of its territory and civilian deaths.
“No matter what the rationale is, these air strikes are condemned and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” Iraq’s Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Bahr al-Uloom said.
Turkey frequently carries out airstrikes against alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains. Last month, protesters in the town of Shiladze, Duhok province stormed a Turkish airbase, angry about civilian deaths and the failure of the governments in Erbil and Baghdad to protect them.
Before the January 26 protests, Turkey was flying near daily forays across the border. After the protests, however, it has publicized just three events – on January 31, February 4, and February 7.
Hennis-Plasschaert also raised the airstrikes in her statement, saying she regrets “the loss of civilian lives and the loss of civilian livelihoods during these operations.”
She urged Baghdad and Ankara to find a solution to the problem “through bilateral dialogue.”
The UNAMI briefing was received quietly by the council.
With the exception of China, no other permanent members of the Security Council, including the United States, made any remarks on the situation in Iraq.
This is a sign that, after the military defeat of ISIS, “Iraq is not a priority now,” one UN Security Council diplomat said, on condition of anonymity.