Iraq requests end of UN assistance mission by end-2025
World
Iraq requests end of UN assistance mission by end-2025
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has requested that a United Nations assistance mission set up after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country end its work by the end of 2025, saying it was no longer needed because Iraq had made significant progress towards stability.
The mission, headquartered in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, was set up with a wide mandate to help develop Iraqi institutions, support political dialogue and elections, and promote human rights.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said Iraq wanted to deepen cooperation with other U.N. organisations but there was no longer a need for the political work of the U.N. assistance mission, known as UNAMI.
The mission's head in Iraq often shuttles between top political, judicial and security officials in work that supporters see as important to preventing and resolving conflicts but critics have often described as interference.
"Iraq has managed to take important steps in many fields, especially those that fall under UNAMI's mandate," Sudani said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Iraq's government has since 2023 moved to end several international missions, including the U.S.-led coalition created in 2014 to fight Islamic State and the U.N.'s mission established to help promote accountability for the jihadist group's crimes.
You know, we often had our agreements, but we've had our disagreements.
Iraqi officials say the country has come a long way from the sectarian bloodletting after the U.S.-led invasion and Islamic State's attempt to establish a caliphate, and that it no longer needs so much international help.
Some critics worry about the stability of the young democracy, given recurring conflict and the presence of many heavily armed military-political groups that have often battled on the streets, the last time in 2022.
