BAGHDAD (AP) – The United Nations (UN) Chief António Guterres on Wednesday praised Iraq for repatriating citizens detained in neighbouring Syria on suspicion of ties to the Islamic State (IS) group and pledged international support for the country’s efforts to regain stability and security.
He spoke to reporters during a rare visit to Baghdad, his first in six years, ahead of this month’s 20-year anniversary of the 2003 United States-led invasion.
The years that followed Saddam’s overthrow saw widespread sectarian violence and the rise of al-Qaeda in the region and later, the IS group, which at one point controlled wide swaths of territory, including Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul.
“We recognise that the challenges Iraq is facing did not arise overnight,” Guterres said, speaking at a news conference alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani.
He praised the formation of Iraq’s new government in October, after a yearlong political stalemate, and the country’s “ambitious and forward-looking reform agenda”.
Guterres commended Iraq for repatriating its citizens from northeastern Syria, particularly from al-Hol camp, which holds the wives, widows and children of IS fighters in what human rights groups have described as dangerous and squalid living conditions.
Last Sunday, Iraq repatriated some 582 people from the camp to a rehabilitation centre near the town of Qayara, south of Mosul. Guterres described Iraq’s actions as an “example for the world” while noting that many women and children “remain stranded in desperate conditions”.
He called for implementation of promised measures that would allow members of the Yazidi religious minority displaced by IS attacks to return to their homes in the town of Sinjar.
Guterres was to visit the Iraqi Kurdish region’s government and in the city of Irbil yesterday and meet with Kurdish leaders.
