Category: Iraq

Any Iraqi who wishes to participate in these elections, as a candidate or campaigner, must be able to do so without fear of intimidation, attack, abduction or assassination,said UN envoy…reports Asian Lite News

The top UN envoy for Iraq calls for a free and safe environment for upcoming elections in Iraq.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN secretary-general’s special representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq on Tuesday said “For credible elections to take place, it is imperative that parties and candidates operate in a free and safe environment.”

The same goes for members of the media. In this regard, recent incidents are highly troubling — to say the least, she added.

“I call on all parties, stakeholders and authorities to come together, to agree on a ‘code of conduct’ and to allow all Iraqi candidates to operate freely — irrespective of ethnicity, gender, language, religion, belief or background,” she told the Security Council in a briefing.

Any Iraqi who wishes to participate in these elections, as a candidate or campaigner, must be able to do so without fear of intimidation, attack, abduction or assassination. And it goes without saying: voters must feel entirely free to choose their preferred candidate, she said.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers, in consultation with the Independent High Electoral Commission, has decided on a new date for Iraq’s elections: October 10, 2021 — four months later than originally planned. Parliament has passed the legislation necessary to finance the elections, and countrywide registration of candidates and alliances, as well as voter registration updates, are under way, she noted.

However, she said, parliament has not yet finalized the outstanding Federal Supreme Court Law. As this court certifies election results, further delays cannot be accepted.

Hennis-Plasschaert asked the Security Council to make a decision on electoral observation in Iraq as soon as possible.

“A request from the government of Iraq for electoral observation is currently before this council. I understand that a decision has not yet been made. But I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize the importance and also urgency of obtaining clarity.”

“In this all-important election year, I am hopeful that Iraqis can continue to count on the council’s steadfast support and solidarity,” said Hennis-Plasschaert.

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There is international cooperation in recovering the antiquities that were looted and stolen from the archaeological sites as well as the Iraq Museum in the capital Baghdad, said Minister…reports Asian Lite News

Iraqi authorities have pledged to recover all the ancient artefacts that were stolen after the US-led invasion in 2003, a local media report said citing a top official.

“The board is determined to recover the first and last Iraqi artefact smuggled abroad, and we will not give up a single piece of it, regardless of its size and importance,” Xinhua news agency quoted Laith Hussein, head of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, as saying to the Iraqi al-Sabah on Tuesday.

There is international cooperation in recovering the antiquities that were looted and stolen from the archaeological sites as well as the Iraq Museum in the capital Baghdad, he said.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by the Ministry outside Iraq on the stolen artefacts, Hussein added.

According to the official, the Iraqi authorities have great difficulty in protecting archaeological sites in Iraq as the country is “like a museum”, where “thousands of archaeological sites spread widely across its land from north to south”.

“Nevertheless, the board continues to intensify monitoring of archaeological sites by fencing them with wires and increasing the number of guards to prevent their damage,” Hussein noted.

According to official statistics, about 15,000 pieces of cultural relics from the Stone Age ranging from the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Islamic periods were stolen or destroyed, mainly in the Iraq Museum, after Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled by US-led troops in 2003.

Then after the Islamic State (IS) terror group took control of large territories in northern and western Iraq in 2014, the museum of Mosul as well as the ancient cities of Hatra and Nimrud were destroyed, with large numbers of antiquities smuggled.

Statistics show that more than 10,000 sites in Iraq are officially recognised as archaeological sites, but most of them are not safeguarded and many were still being looted.

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The previous parliamentary elections in Iraq were held on May 12, 2018, and the next polls were originally scheduled to take place in 2022..reports Asian Lite News

The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has suggested to postpone the early parliamentary polls slated for June 6 to November 16, state media reported.

On Sunday Jalil Adnan Khalaf, Chairman of IHEC’s Board of Commissioners, said the proposal was made after reviewing the timetable for the electoral process in consultation by the UN, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) which also published an official letter from the IHEC sent to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Khalaf attributed the postponement to registering a small number of coalitions, and the need to give more time to register more candidates and coalitions, in addition to allowing the UN experts and observers to take their role in monitoring the electoral process, Xinhua news agency reported citing the letter as saying.

Last July, al-Kadhimi set June 6, 2021, as the date for the early elections, which came in response to the anti-government protests and was designed to make it easier for independent politicians to win a seat in the parliament.

The previous parliamentary elections in Iraq were held on May 12, 2018, and the next polls were originally scheduled to take place in 2022.

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The CTS forces were engaged in fierce clashes with IS militants in the area for two successive days, Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, said in the statement…reports Asian Lite News

Iraq’s CTS force has killed 42 Islamic State militants during can operation in Nineveh province, the country’s military has confirmed.

Acting on intelligence reports, the Counter-Terrorism Service forces backed by Iraqi and international coalition aircraft, stormed into the Ayn al-Jahash area south of the provincial capital of Mosul, the former stronghold of the IS, Xinhua news agency reported citing the military as saying in a statement on Sunday.

The CTS forces were engaged in fierce clashes with IS militants in the area for two successive days, Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, said in the statement.

The troops forced the IS militants to withdraw and hole up in their hideouts in tunnels and caves, prompting the CTS troops to storm their hideouts even with hand grenades, he added.

The operation resulted in the killing of 42 IS militants, including five of their local leaders, and the seizure of weapons and ammunition inside the hideouts, according to Rasoul.

The operation came as the extremist group have intensified their attacks on the security forces and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since the security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country in 2017.

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