Members of the UN Security Council support Iraq’s request to end the UN mission in Iraq, and United States rejects

A number of members of the UN Security Council, including Russia and China, yesterday supported the Iraqi request to end the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq” UNAMI” next year, however the United States rejected it.

Last week, the Iraqi government asked the United Nations to finish by the end of 2025 its political mission, which it has been performing in the country for more than twenty years, considering that it is” no longer necessary,” according to a letter seen by AFP.

The deputy representative of Iraq to the United Nations, Abbas Kazem Obaid al-Fatlawi, reiterated the request to the council yesterday, saying that “the mission has achieved its goals”.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia supported this point of view, saying that “Iraqis are ready to take responsibility for the political future of their country,” adding that “the remaining problems should not become an excuse for the UN mission to stay in the country indefinitely.”

In turn, Chinese deputy delegate to the UN Geng Shuang noted that as part of the annual renewal of the mission, whose mandate expires at the end of May, the Security Council should “propose a plan in order to ensure a gradual withdrawal and a smooth transition towards a final withdrawal”.

However, the United States rejected the request, saying in the words of its delegate Linda Thomas Greenfield that UNAMI “still has important work to do” and did not address Baghdad’s request.

In an assessment requested by the UN Security Council, German diplomat Volker Perthes said last March that the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), which had more than 700 employees until the end of 2023, in its current form seems too large, calling on the mission to begin transferring its tasks to the Iraqi national institutions and the UN team in the country in a responsible, orderly and gradual manner within an agreed time frame.

Amal Farhat