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Iraq has demanded that a UN assistance mission, set up after the 2003 US-led invasion of the country, ends its work by the end of 2025.

Unami is no longer required as the Middle East country has made significant progress towards stability and wants to deepen co-operation with other UN organisations, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani said.

“Iraq has managed to take important steps in many fields, especially those that fall under Unami’s mandate,” he said in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

The mission, based in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, was set up to help develop Iraqi institutions, support political dialogue and elections, and promote human rights.

Unami’s chief in Iraq often meets top political, judicial and security officials in work that supporters see as important to preventing and resolving conflicts but which critics have described as interference.

Since 2023, Iraq has moved to end several international missions, including the US-led coalition created in 2014 to fight ISIS and a UN mission established to promote accountability for the extremist group’s crimes.

Iraqi officials argue that the country has come a long way from the sectarian bloodletting that took place after the US-led invasion and during the attempt by ISIS to establish a caliphate, and that it no longer needs as much international help.

However, some critics worry about the stability of the young democracy, given recurring conflicts and the presence of many heavily armed military-political groups that have often fought battles on the streets, the last time being in 2022.

Some diplomats and UN officials also worry about human rights and accountability in a country that frequently ranks among the world’s most corrupt and where activists say freedom of expression has been curtailed in recent years.

Iraq’s government says it is working to fight corruption and denies…

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Baghdad, May 10 (AP) The Iraqi government has requested that the United Nations end a mission set up to promote governance and human rights reforms in the country by the end of 2025, the latest in a series of international bodies operating in the nation that Iraq has sought to wind down.

The letter sent Wednesday by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that there is “no need for the continuation” of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

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Sudani said Iraq’s government has “been able to achieve a number of important steps” in areas that fall under the body’s mandate. rendering it redundant.

Typically, the mission is extended annually by the UN Security Council, with the current term expiring at the end of this month.

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Sudani’s letter did not oppose a one-year extension but said the mission should focus on wrapping up its tasks to ensure a permanent closure and transfer of its responsibilities by the end of 2025.

Established in 2003 in the wake of the US invasion that toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein, UNAMI had been tasked with a number of missions, including facilitating dialogue among various groups, assisting with election logistics, monitoring human rights, and coordinating aid in conflict-affected areas.

A UNAMI spokesperson and a spokesperson for Sudani declined to comment on the Iraqi government request.

Sudani’s government has made a series of moves to extricate Iraq from the presence of international bodies set up post-2003.

Earlier this year, Iraq initiated discussions to phase out the mission of a US-led military coalition formed to fight…

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