Iraq requests end of UN assistance mission by end of 2025

Iraq has requested that a United Nations assistance mission set up after the 2003 US-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 UN organizations but there was no longer a need for the political work of the UN 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 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Iraq's government has since 2023 moved to end several international missions, including the US-led coalition created in 2014 to fight Islamic State and the UN's mission established to help promote accountability for the jihadist group's crimes.



Reuters