Baghdad The Head of the United Nations mission in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis Plasschaert, revealed, on Thursday, that there are discussions taking place behind closed doors regarding the political process, noting the need for their results to remain “behind the doors”, while warning that the Iraqis have lost confidence in the political process.
“Political accountability is critical and any leader who is unable to fulfill his duties must resign,” Plasschaert said in a briefing to the UN Security Council.
She added, “it is easy to demand a resignation, but we have to ask: What does that resignation solve, and what if the next person cannot achieve progress in the position?” The resignation returned as “not a progress in and of itself. Rather, what follows should be looked at and sometimes we hold discussions behind closed doors. It is better for it to remain so.
She indicated that her meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Fadak Al-Muhammadawi, “comes within the framework of communicating with all parties.”
Plasschaert pointed out that “the United Nations contributes to many activities such as dialogues between Baghdad and Erbil and community reconciliation. The United Nations family in Iraq includes many in its departments and provides services such as relief. We understand that many want the mission to provide more, but Iraq is not a poor country.”
She added, “The United Nations provides advice. Iraq is a sovereign country, and any government is responsible to its citizens,” noting that “it is easy for many parties to hide behind the United Nations and to blame it.”
She added, “Everyone who wants to express his opinion can do so, which we confirm again and again. There are many politicians with whom we have good cooperation and some politicians express their opinion as if the United Nations is undermining the sovereignty of Iraq,” adding, “no one should wait.” We perform miracles. ”
She warned, “the United Nations is a multilateral organization, and we work on the basis of that. We believe that it is our duty to act on the basis of facts and move away from ideas of conspiracies. We must differentiate between blaming the United Nations and impunity.
Plasschaert added, “What we witnessed in 2019 of the demonstrations was due to the lack of political and economic solutions, we communicated with the demonstrators, we communicated with the government as well, we monitored the situation and issued many reports and many of our activities were far from the public’s eyes.
She stressed that “the demonstrations have been going on since the year 2019 and the demand for accountability is important and progress should be made in this. We have published multiple reports on demonstrations, the use of violence and impunity, and we continue to monitor the situation and communicate with everyone.”
Plasschaert warned that “the Iraqi people have lost faith in the political process, and the state of popular anger in Iraq should not be underestimated,” noting that “the demonstrators have lost their patience and want immediate change and will continue to demonstrate and go out to the streets.
Concerning the assassinations and the disappearance of demonstrators and civilian activists, Plasschaert said, “Investigations into assassinations are still without results, and we will issue a report on killings and assassinations in Iraq soon.”
She concluded by saying, “the armed forces will push Iraq into the abyss, and corruption cannot be eliminated in Iraq overnight.”
Source: National Iraqi News Agency