UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has praised Iraq’s efforts to restore security and order after years of sectarian violence and the rise of extremist groups, including the Islamic State group, in the years after the 2003 invasion.
He also hailed “the courage, fortitude and determination of the Iraqi people.”
Guterres was in Baghdad to mark the end of United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), the political mission set up in 2003 following the US-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.
At Iraq’s request, the UN Security Council voted last year to wind down the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), by the end of 2025.
The mission was set up to coordinate post-conflict humanitarian and reconstruction efforts and help restore a representative government in the country.
UNAMI’s tasks included advising the government on political dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping with elections and security sector reform.
However, with Iraq regaining a sense of normalcy in recent years, authorities say there are no longer grounds for a UN political mission.
At the mission’s closing ceremony, Guterres noted that Iraqis have worked to overcome decades of violence, oppression, war, terrorism, sectarianism and foreign interference. “And today’s Iraq is unrecognizable from those times,” he said.
Guterres added that Iraq “is now a normal country, and relations between the U.N. and Iraq will become normal relations with the end of UNAMI.”
“UNAMI was honoured and humbled to walk side-by-side with the Iraqi people. While a mission may conclude, the United Nations will always walk alongside the people of Iraq on the path toward peace, sustainable development and human rights.”
Antonio Guterres
The UN Secretary-General also expressed appreciation for Iraq’s commitment to returning its citizens from the al-Hol camp, a sprawling tent camp in northeastern Syria housing thousands of people — mostly women and children — with alleged ties to the IS.
Guterres recently recommended former Iraqi President Barham Salih to become the next Head of the UN refugee agency, the first nomination from the Middle East in half a century.
Salih’s presidential term, from 2018 to 2022, came in the immediate aftermath of the Islamic State group’s rampage across Iraq and the battle to take back the territory seized by the extremist group, including the key northern city of Mosul.
At least 2.2 million Iraqis were displaced as they fled the IS offensive. Many, particularly members of the Yazidi minority from the northern Sinjar district, remain in displacement camps today.
Al-Sudani Calls UNAMI’s End A Show Of Iraq’s Self-reliance
Meanwhile, Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said that UNAMI’s conclusion showed Iraq had reached a stage of “full self-reliance.”
He said in a joint statement with Guterres that Iraq emerged victorious “thanks to the sacrifices and courage of its people.
He added that his country “highly values” the mission’s work in a region “that has suffered for decades from dictatorship, wars, and terrorism.”
Sudani said that the ending of UNAMI’s mandate “does not signify the end of the partnership between Iraq and the UN,” adding that it represents the beginning of a new chapter of cooperation focused on development and inclusive economic growth.
“Our relationship with the United Nations through UNAMI was pivotal and effective in meeting Iraq’s needs and supporting it until it reached the stage of full self-reliance.”
Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
The Prime Minister said a street in Baghdad would be named “United Nations Street” in honor of the UN’s work and in recognition of 22 UN staff who were killed in an Aug. 19, 2003, truck bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, which housed the UN headquarters.
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