Al Abadi calls for unity as Iraq faces new challenges after ISIL

The Iraqi prime minister has stressed the importance of consolidating the victory over ISIL and preserving unity as the country faces new challenges.

In the wake of Iraq’s success against the militants, Baghdad now faces the challenges of reconstruction, corruption and sectarianism.

“Victory over ISIL was achieved due to the unity of the Iraqi army, Hashed Al Shaabi, peshmerga and local tribes,” Haider Al Abadi said on Saturday during Iraq’s festival to celebrate the triumph.

Hashed Al Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces, were formed in 2014 after Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, urged citizens to take up arms against ISIL militants who had swept aside government forces and seized control of much of northern Iraq.

The militias, however, which are mostly supported by Iran, remain deeply contentious and have been accused of a string of abuses in Iraq.

“Hashed Al Shaabi did not have any political motivation when they liberated areas that were ruled by ISIL, their intention was to fight for the [freedom of their] homeland” Mr Al Abadi said.

Although victory has been announced in Iraq, thousands of individuals remain missing. In Mosul alone, more than six months after Iraq declared victory over ISIL, more than 3,000 people are unaccounted for.

Some are believed to have been killed by ISIL, while others were detained by security forces on suspicion of militant ties. Regardless, bureaucracy, inefficiency and neglect have left thousands of families in limbo.

Mr Al Abadi had words of warning for “those who are trying to sabotage the country’s victory and defeat over extremists”. He said “unity must be preserved” to maintain stability in the country.

The prime minister blamed corruption for the rise of ISIL in Iraq and vowed that it would be combated.

“The corrupt – who have seized money from the state – are the ones who caused this catastrophe. ISIL would not have been able to spread in Iraq had it not been for the corruption,” he said.

Mr Al Abadi called for a crackdown on corruption after billions of dollars in state money were found to be flowing into phantom projects used as vehicles for embezzlement.

Iraq has been ranked as the 11th most corrupt country in the world in Transparency International’s 2016 corruption perception index.

“It will be in the interest of countries that are standing with us [against corruption and extremism],” he said, indicating that because of – “the blood of our heroic armed forces and martyrs, we were able to defeat the threat of terrorism from our country and the world”.

Iraq and Syria have declared victory over ISIL in recent weeks, after a year in which the two countries’ armies, a range of foreign allies and various local forces drove the extremists out of all of the towns and villages that once made up their self-proclaimed caliphate.

However, the US-led coalition against ISIL announced last week that “there are estimated to be less than 1,000 ISIL terrorists in our combined joint area of operations, most of whom are being hunted down in the desert regions in eastern Syria and western Iraq”.

Mr Al Abadi stressed the need for “continued vigilance in the country until the last terrorist is eliminated”.

The corrupt caused this catastrophe. ISIL would not have been able to spread in Iraq had it not been for corruption HAIDER AL ABADI Iraq prime minister