WORLD NEWS | UN chief lauds progress towards stability in rare Iraq visit

BAGHDAD, March 2 (AP) — The United Nations chief on Wednesday praised Iraq for repatriating citizens detained in neighboring Syria on suspicion of ties to the Islamic State group and pledged international support for efforts to restore stability and security in the country.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to reporters during a rare visit to Baghdad, his first in six years, ahead of the 20th anniversary this month of the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein .

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The years after Saddam’s overthrow were marked by widespread sectarian violence, first with the rise of al-Qaeda in the region and then with the extremist Islamic State group, which at one point controlled swathes of territory, including Mosu, Iraq’s second-largest city you. “We recognize that the challenges facing Iraq did not emerge overnight,” Guterres said at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shiite Sultani. “They are the product of decades of oppression, war, terrorism, sectarianism and foreign interference.”

He praised Iraq’s new government, which was formed in October after a year-long political stalemate, and the country’s “ambitious and forward-looking reform agenda”. He also pledged U.N. support for systemic governance reforms and measures to address Iraq’s looming water crisis, which experts predict will be exacerbated by climate change.

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Guterres praises Iraq for repatriating its citizens from north-east Syria, especially from al-Hol camp where tens of thousands of women and children – mainly wives, widows and children of IS fighters – Human Rights Organizations describe it as a dangerous and dirty place to live.

On Sunday, Iraq repatriated some 582 people from the camp to a rehabilitation center near the town of Qayara, south of Mosul.

Guterres described the Iraqi operation as “an example for the world”, while noting that many women and children “still remain trapped in hopeless situations”.

He called for promised measures to allow members of the Yazidi religious minority displaced by Islamic State attacks to return to their homes in the town of Sinjar, and called on the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq to reach an agreement on the contentious issue. protocol. Budgetary issues and laws governing oil and gas transactions.

Guterres will visit the Iraqi Kurdish regional government and the city of Erbil on Thursday and meet with Kurdish leaders. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)