Roundup: Political polarization in Iraq threatens reconciliation efforts, top UN official warns

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faces "immense challenges" to his efforts to bring reconciliation and broaden the political process in the strife-torn nation, the top United Nations official in the Middle East country said on Wednesday.

"Since taking office (a year ago), the prime minister has been struggling to exercise his authority while his opponents grow bolder," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Jan Kubis told the 15-nation Security Council, presenting the latest UN report on the country.

"Meanwhile, the scope and impact of the reforms have not met public expectations," he said.

"Despite hopes that he would be able to move national reconciliation forward and bring the broader Sunni community into the political process, the prime minister's efforts have been obstructed by elements within all Iraqi components, the main reasons being lack of trust and vested interests," the special representative said.

Kubis stressed that al-Abadi continues to actively lead efforts to fulfil the government's programme and reform agenda "even as the scope and complexity of Iraq's security, political, social, budgetary and humanitarian challenges increase."

"The Iraqi fiscal crisis and growing budget deficit as a result of the steep drop in global oil prices are of increasing concern and highlight the need for urgent economic reform," he said, calling on the government, its foreign partners and international and regional financial institutions to take urgent measures to address these challenges.

The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), which he also heads, "stands ready to assist all efforts to promote an inclusive reconciliation process that uphold respect for Iraq's unity, sovereignty and constitutional order," Kubis said.

"There is a vital need to show political will, ownership and a commitment to historic compromise and national reconciliation, regardless of opposite views and political risk, to capitalize on signals from some Sunni leaders and groups outside of the political process that they are ready to join it," he said.

On the security front, Kubis said the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the IS or ISIS, has been pushed back in central Iraq, but "continues to possess the funding and military capacities to prolong its reign of terror over large swathes of Iraq."

Iraq is facing an insurgency by the jihadist group ISIL, which has forced thousands of people mainly from minority communities to flee their homes since late 2014.

The group, seizing vast swaths of territory in northern Iraq since June 2014 and announced the establishment of a caliphate in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq, has released gruesome videos showing beheadings of people including two American journalists and a British aid worker.

Nonetheless, "the Iraqi Security Forces continue to make slow progress, while at the same time doing their utmost to avoid civilian casualties," he said.

He also warned of deep schisms between major political parties in the Kurdistan Region.

On the positive side, he noted the successful stabilization of Tikrit, retaken from ISIL, where nearly its entire displaced population, some 155,000 people, has returned home.

But he stressed that the overall humanitarian situation remains of the "gravest concern ... outstripping our collective capacity to respond."

"With limited funding, the UN humanitarian community had to cut and reorganize its programmes in support of Iraqi IDPs (internally displaced persons)," he said.

"Since the vast majority of IDPs want to remain in Iraq, the best way to encourage this is to provide humanitarian support at the point of origin. They will be less inclined to flee the country and migrate to third countries, first of all in Europe," he said.

Early this year, UNAMI worked actively with the authorities to set up a Recovery and Reconstruction fund, while challenge posed by supporting internally displaced persons remained huge.

According to him, 5.2 million people need humanitarian assistance, of whom, 2.25 million are displaced and 235,000 are refugees from Syria, with the population of the Kurdistan region having increased by 30 percent because of the influx. Enditem