by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Baghdad : Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Wednesday held a phone call with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud over means to promote bilateral ties and cooperation in various fields, Abdul Mahdi’s office said.
The office said in a statement that Abdul Mahdi received a telephone call from Saudi king in which he discussed “expanding relations of cooperation between the two countries in all fields and enhance chances of security and stability in the (Middle East) region.”
Abdul Mahdi also said that he is looking forward to more cooperation in trade and oil fields, and a relation of partnership that serves the two peoples and bolsters stability and security of the region, the statement added.
The Saudi king reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s support to Iraq and its keenness for Iraq’s stability and prosperity, the statement said, according to Xinhua news agency.
Relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia improved in 2016 when Saudi reopened its embassy in Baghdad after Iraq’s invasion of its neighbouring Kuwait in August 1990.
On February 25, 2017, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir visited Iraq, the first for a Saudi foreign minister since 1990.
Bilateral relations have improved immensely as both countries have close historical, linguistic, cultural and geographic ties as well as their willingness for potential future cooperation.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
London : The United Kingdom is to give an extra £5 million to help clear explosives planted by so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, the government has announced.
The Department for International Development (DfID) funding is in addition to the £24.9 million the UK has contributed to demining projects in the country since 2015. The money will be given to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
According to the BBC, the UK is committed to spending 0.7 percent of gross national income on overseas aid – spending £14.1 billion in 2017. The biggest recipients were Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Syria and Somalia.
About 1.8 million people are still displaced in Iraq and DfID says removing explosives from schools, hospitals and roads will help the country to return to normality.
In 2018, 16,500 explosives, 800 suicide belts and 2,000 explosive traps were cleared from the country. Teams have cleared locations including a hospital used as IS’s headquarters in Mosul, where 3,500 explosives were found and a school in Fallujah rigged with 13 IEDs.
The funding will support six explosive clearance teams across the Iraqi Sinjar province, an area with a large Yazidi population that has been one of the worst affected by the occupation by IS militants.
Iraq’s government announced in December 2017 that its war against IS was over, almost four years after the group, which is also known as Daesh, first seized parts of the country.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: “Daesh’s sickening use of explosive traps continues to threaten children in their schools, mothers in hospitals and thousands of innocent people trying to return to a normal life.”
“Thanks to this UK aid funded work, people can return to work, children can go back to school and lives are slowly being rebuilt,” he added.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Barham Salih (center)
Baghdad : Iraqi lawmakers have elected Barham Salih as the new president of Iraq after a protracted political wrangling, marking a crucial step in forming the government in the next four years.
Salih gained 219 votes out of a total of 272 lawmakers who cast their votes on Tuesday in the second round of voting, advancing on his rival Fuad Hussein who gained 22 votes in the session, Xinhua news agency reported.
In the first round of voting, any of about 20 candidates, who were competing for the president post, had failed to win the two-third of the total 329 parliament members needed for the post. But Barham Salih gained the highest votes 165, while Fuad Hussein came in the second place with 89 votes out of about 300 lawmakers who cast their votes in the first round.
According to the Iraqi constitution, the president-elect needs to gather at least two thirds of the votes of the 329 parliament members. If the parliament lawmakers fail to vote by a two-third majority, the two candidates with the highest number of votes shall compete with each other.
The one receiving the majority of votes in the second round of vote shall be declared the president of Iraq.
After being elected as the new president, Salih sworn in as the president of Iraq and told the lawmakers, “I will protect the unity of Iraq and its independence, and it is a great honour to be elected president of the Republic of Iraq.”
“I will be the president of Iraq and not for a certain group, entity or component,” Salih pledged.
“I will work according to the democratic system,” he said, recalling “the martyrs of Iraq, victims of mass graves, Halabja and all the martyrs.”
Afterwards, the Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi adjourned the session to next Tuesday.
According to the constitution, Salih will have 15 days after taking office to task the nominee of the largest alliance to form the government of the next four years.
The Iraqi media reports said that the independent politician Adel Abdul-Mahdi will be the nominee of the largest alliance, after the contesting two alliances who previously claimed they were the largest alliance reached a consensus that they both nominated Mahdi as their candidate for the next prime minister post.
Barham Ahmed Salih, 58, is a veteran Kurdish politician, born in the city of Sulaimaniyah in northeastern Iraq. He was former prime minister of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan from 2001 to 2004.
Later, he became deputy prime minister of the federal government and occupied many ministerial posts in Baghdad and Erbil in the last 15 years.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Baghdad : Iraq’s Foreign Ministry has said it was “astonished” by a report that Iran had moved ballistic missiles to armed groups in Iraq.
The Ministry confirmed on Sunday that all Iraqi state institutions were committed to the Constitution that states that its territory should not be used as a base or passage for any operation targeting the security of any other state, Xinhua news agency reported.
The western media reported earlier that Iran had given ballistic missiles to allied Shiite militias in Iraq and was developing the capacity to build more there.
The Ministry’s statement came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called up Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
According to a statement by Abadi’s office, Pompeo renewed his country’s support for a strong, stable and prosperous Iraq in accordance with the Strategic Framework Agreement which was signed (in 2008) by the two countries.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
By Zuhal Demirci,
Ankara: Turkey issued a travel warning for Iraq on Saturday as the country was hit by protests over unemployment and lack of basic services.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry advised Turkish citizens to stay away from protests in Iraqi cities of Basra, Maysan, Dhi Qar, Najaf, Karbala, and Baghdad.
Turkish citizens should follow warnings and announcements by Turkey’s Embassy in Baghdad as well as the ministry.
Tension has been building on in Basra over rising unemployment and repeated power outages, with protests spreading to several other provinces, including the capital Baghdad.
Last week, a demonstrator was killed by security forces during a protest against deteriorating services in Basra.
Roughly 80 percent of Iraq’s overall crude oil exports originate from oilfields in Basra province.
For years, Basra residents have complained that foreign nationals, rather than locals, were employed by the domestic energy sector.
They also complain of frequent power outages amid summer temperatures that often reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
—AA
