“I think the challenge is corruption. In the absence of tackling corruption, any attempts to push for serious reform will not succeed,” UNAMI head Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said during the annual Middle East Research Institute (MERI) Forum in Erbil.
The two-day forum is attended by dozens of local and international leaders and experts and will address the various political, security, economic, and environmental challenges currently facing Iraq.
Plasschaert blamed the continuous violations of Iraqi sovereignty by neighboring countries on Baghdad’s weak internal situation, saying “in the absence of domestic strength, you kind of invite others to use your territory for different power competitions.”
Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister, commended Plasschaert’s statements during their shared panel and blamed Iraq’s weakness domestically on the absence of “political parties that have ideologies.”
“If there is a political will, clarity, vision, and most importantly teamwork, you can overcome all obstacles. But when the government becomes a playground for fights between political countries, nothing works,” Talabani said, attributing Iraq’s failures to a lack of attention paid to governance in the country.
While addressing the formation of Iraq’s new government, Talabani urged Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to “understand that the Kurdistan Region is not working to undermine him” amid ongoing efforts from Erbil and Baghdad to repair damaged ties.
Meanwhile, the UN head warned Iraqis to refrain from relying on President Abdul Latif Rashid to solve the country’s problems but rather to solve them in an institutionalized manner as one person cannot address all issues properly.
Sudani’s cabinet was voted in during a tense parliamentary session late Thursday, ending over a year of political deadlock. Kurdish leaders have congratulated the new premier.
Rampant corruption plagues all levels of the Iraqi state while unemployment has been on the rise, adding to an ongoing economic crisis, exacerbated by the political deadlock which has frozen the much-needed 2022 budget.
