Iraq asks UN to end its mission by end of 2025
Iraq asked the Security Council and UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday to "reduce the mandate" of the United Nations mission in the country and "prepare for its final closure" by the end of 2025.
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Mundo Iraque
According to Iraqi government spokesman Basim Alawadi, "the circumstances that necessitated the creation of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) 21 years ago no longer exist".
This position is shared by the Independent Strategic Analysis Team of the UN Security Council, which said that "there is no need for UNAMI to continue due to significant improvements and achievements in various sectors in Iraq".
The Security Council is due to respond to the Iraqi request later this month and its resolution is also expected to "outline a mechanism for continued monitoring of certain issues in coordination with international agencies active in the country".
The Iraqi government expressed its gratitude to Guterres, as well as to the head of the UN mission in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and all UNAMI staff for "their support over the past years", according to Alawadi.
The Iraqi government spokesman also recalled "the sacrifices of all those who served in UN missions in Iraq" and, in particular, that of "Sergio Vieira de Mello and his colleagues, victims of a terrorist attack on the mission's headquarters in August 2003".
UNAMI, which currently has "648 staff members, 251 international and 397 national", was created in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and carries out assessment tasks and draws up reports on the human rights situation in the country.
The mission also coordinates a series of projects implemented by UN agencies and maintains close contact with all Iraqi government ministries for their implementation, among other tasks.
The request to end UNAMI comes at a time when Iraq has also called for the withdrawal of foreign troops present in the country as part of the international coalition that has been fighting the extremist group Islamic State (IS) since 2014, considering that the Iraqi army is prepared to face this threat alone.
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