German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, offered further German support for Iraq at the start of a four-day visit to the country, and pledged ongoing aid in the fight against the terrorist militia Islamic State.
“In order to ensure that no Iraqi suffers under the terror of Islamic State again, we will keep up the pressure on Islamic State together,” Baerbock said in Baghdad on Tuesday, after a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
Bearbock said Iraq has made impressive gains in the fight against Islamic state, but called the terrorist group a continuing threat in the country. She noted that German soldiers are in Iraq to advise and train security forces as part of an international effort.
Baerbock also met Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad on Tuesday, before flying in the evening to Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq. She is scheduled to meet Kurdish leaders in Erbil on Wednesday.
Baerbock plans to meet Bundeswehr soldiers on the ground, to get a picture of the German military engagement. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, in Iraq on an unannounced visit on Tuesday, also met al-Sudani.
The German minister also sharply criticized Iran, calling on the country to stop its missile attacks on Iraqi territory, and echoing Hussein’s demands that Iran respect Iraqi sovereignty.
“The Iranian regime shows with its missile attacks that it not only represses its own population with recklessness and brutality, but is apparently prepared to jeopardize lives and stability in the entire region to maintain power,” Baerbock said.
“This is completely unacceptable and dangerous for the region as a whole,” Baerbock said, noting that the United Nations Charter specifically forbids attacks of this kind.
After arriving in Baghdad on Tuesday, Baerbock said that Iraqi success in building lasting stability and a stable democracy would make it a model for the entire region. The German minister said that is why German has supported Iraq with over €3.4 billion ($3.6 billion) in civilian funds alone since 2014.
But Baerbock also warned that “if new terrorism, Iranian influence or the destruction of livelihoods due to the water crisis were to lead to violence and political division here again, the consequences would also massively affect the neighbouring states.”
Baerbock recalled that Islamic State murdered thousands of men and boys in northern Iraq, and abducted and enslaved women and children.
“Because the world community did not prevent this genocide, we have all the more responsibility to ensure that these crimes are solved and that the survivors receive justice.”
With that in mind, she said, she would talk to the relevant UN authority, visit reconstruction projects and find out about the situation of internally displaced people.
“Not leaving the survivors alone is our obligation and responsibility.”
The US-led coalition against Islamic State liberated more than 4.5 million Iraqis, but attacks continue.
In addition to Iranian attacks and the continuing threat of Islamic State, Baerbock on her visit is also promoting the joint fight against the consequences of the climate crisis “so that the people in Mesopotamia can not only look back on thousands of years of history, but also look to the future with confidence.”
On Wednesday, Baerbock is set to meet with the prime minister of the Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, and the region’s President Nechirvan Barzani.
Baerbock is also scheduled to visit a camp for internally displaced people who have been driven out by Islamic State since 2014 and visit a documentation centre there about the crimes of Islamic State.
Source: Ghana News Agency
