IRAQ PM: ‘WE WERE STANDING ON THE BRINK OF A CIVIL WAR BECAUSE OF TWO FORCES IN THE REGION’

Sat 26 June 2021:

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has announced that his country was on the verge of civil war because of clashes between armed groups, noting that his government faced many challenges in order to spare the lives of Iraqis.

Al-Kadhimi stressed in an interview with state-owned channel Al Iraqiya that the outbreak of a confrontation between Washington and Tehran on Iraqi soil during Donald Trump’s administration was possible. He indicated that parties are attempting to escalate tension in order to transform Iraq into an arena for armed conflict between states.

The Iraqi PM added that his government: “Has a one-year term, during which it faced many challenges and attempts to obstruct any steps for reform.”

Fighting corruption

Al-Kadhimi vowed to move forward in the fight against corruption even at the cost of the departure of his government, emphasising that the country was on the brink of civil war.

The Iraqi official asserted: “The fall of Mosul at the hands of Daesh in the summer of 2014 was caused by corruption, nepotism and mismanagement, and many other issues. Even in the electricity sector and other files, we found out that the reason is corruption.”

He confirmed that the anti-corruption committee is handling various charges, including torturing defendants and arresting suspects from one social component, while looking the other way in the case of others. However, he denied the validity of these allegations.

Last August, Al-Kadhimi formed a special committee to investigate major corruption files and assigned the tasks of executing arrest warrants to a special force headed by the prime minister.

The PM vowed: “Even if the government is threatened, we will not suspend anti-corruption measures and we are ready to sacrifice everything.”

The fight against corruption is at the top of the demands of the massive protests that erupted in Iraq since October 2019.

Iraq is among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International’s index over the past years.

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