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Government spokesman Bassem Al-Awadi revealed on Friday, the new formula for dealing with the United Nations(UN) while he indicated that the work of the UNAMI mission would end on the political side, he stressed that the mission provided great services to the Iraqis and supported the political process.

Al-Awadi told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that “the UNAMI mission was formed in the eighth month of 2003, after the overthrow of the former regime and the presence of the international coalition, and the absence of a government, but rather a governing council carrying out its new work in Iraq,” indicating that “the idea is to send the nations “UN is a group of experts to provide advice in the fields of political, transitional justice, social reconciliation, etc., in order to assist the Iraqi government and provide advice, consultations and opinions, and they are considered as advisors to the government.”
 
“Files were identified for these experts, most notably supporting the government politically, especially the formation of the government, elections, the relationship with the Kurdistan Region, the issue of Kirkuk, the conflict of the components, the formation of parliament, supporting the judicial and legal framework, independent bodies and civil society organizations, as well as providing advice and assistance on border disputes, whether with Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Jordan the work continued because Iraq’s circumstances at the time required such assistance, he said.
 
He continued, “The mission worked in Iraq and provided great services to the Iraqi people, and tried to push towards the stability of the political process, and submitted important reports to the United Nations, on the basis of which it issued important decisions to support successive Iraqi governments, the political process, and the Iraqi people,” explaining that “the Iraqi government and the people remember these……

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Iraq increasingly wants to forge a new path that emphasises it is a normal member of the international community and can stand on its own feet. This requires that it shed the institutional hallmarks of the post-2003 period.

As part of that, Baghdad wants to end the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), which has provided the country with political, electoral, and development support for the last two decades.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres dated April, but made public on 12 May, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani noted UNAMI’s positive contributions, but asserted that “after [twenty] years of democratic transition and overcoming great and varied challenges, the grounds for having a political mission in Iraq are no longer available”.

The letter said that Iraq is calling to “permanently” end UNAMI’s mandate on 31 December 2025, adding that the mission’s efforts should be “limited to completing its work (only) on the files of economic reform, service provision, sustainable development, climate change, and other development sectors” from now on.

What this leaves out is UNAMI’s critical political functions. The mission provides what is known in international relations as “good offices,” where a third country or a neutral institution offers a platform for bringing parties together to resolve disagreements.

UNAMI does this in a variety of ways, including helping to broker deals between Baghdad and Erbil, offering mediation between Kurdish parties, and facilitating dispute resolution between Iraq and neighbouring countries, most notably Kuwait.

The mission’s political mandate also includes a requirement that it report to the Security Council about developments in Iraq. The most recent such briefing took place on 16 May.

In light of Iraq’s demands, the question arises: what is the point of a political mission like…

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