[ad_1]
French President Emmanuel Macron will make his first visit to Iraq on Wednesday, with the aim of helping this country affirm its “sovereignty” at a time when it is in the midst of tension between two allies: Washington and Tehran. .
Macron arrives in Baghdad from Beirut, where he spent two days. He will spend a few hours in Iraq, where he will meet with top officials.
He is the first head of state to visit Iraq since Mustafa Al-Kazemi was appointed prime minister in May.
For security reasons, the French presidency did not disclose the visit except at the last minute, noting that Iraqi officials announced it a few days ago.
“I assure you that tomorrow morning I will be in Iraq to launch, in cooperation with the United Nations, an initiative to support the sovereignty process” in this country, Macron said during a press conference on Tuesday night at the end of his second visit Lebanon in less than a month.
On Friday, Macron said in an interview with journalists that “the battle for Iraq’s sovereignty is essential” to allow “this people and this country, who have suffered so much,” “not to submit to the inevitability of control and terrorism. of regional powers “.
“There are leaders and people who are aware of this and want to determine their own destiny,” he added, noting that “France’s role is to help them do so.”
Macron indicated that he intends to “build with them a solid initiative, in cooperation with the United Nations, for the sake of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
– “By your side” –
And Iraq has for years been trapped between its two most influential partners, Washington and Tehran, and has become an increasingly difficult position since 2018 when the United States, led by Donald Trump, launched a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. .
And Iraq, which witnessed a strong protest movement last year, faces a difficult economic situation.
The Covid-19 epidemic has exacerbated difficulties in Iraq, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) second exporter of black gold, which has been largely affected by falling oil prices.
In Baghdad, Macron will hold talks with President Barham Salih, whom he previously met in Paris in 2019, and the prime minister. You will have lunch with other officials.
An adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Hashem Daoud said Tuesday that the visit “is of great importance, as it is the third by a French official in a month.”
The message carried by the French president will coincide with that of his foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who visited Baghdad in July and highlighted “the importance of the flute in the self over the surrounding tensions.” On August 27, French Foreign Minister Florence Parly visited Baghdad and Erbil, emphasizing the need to continue fighting ISIS.
“We are convinced that the battle against ISIS is not over. We are with you,” he said.
– A ‘pluralist’ Iraq –
In January, Emmanuel Macron called for a “de-escalation” after the United States assassinated General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, upon his arrival in Baghdad. In the same attack, the deputy head of the Iraqi People’s Mobilization Authority, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed. Tehran responded by bombing US forces in western Iraq.
Iranian-backed militias are also suspected of attacking the US embassy and US military and commercial interests in the country multiple times with missiles.
Macron’s visit comes after Donald Trump announced on August 21 that he would withdraw his forces from Iraq, without specifying a timetable for it. There are still some 5,000 US soldiers and diplomats in Iraq.
Iran supports the powerful Popular Mobilization Forces, which are part of the Iraqi forces, and demands the withdrawal of the Americans from Iraq.
France was not involved in the US invasion that toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but in 2014 it joined the military coalition against ISIS, helping to defeat the jihadist organization in Syria and Iraq.
The last of the French forces left Iraq earlier this year.
In response to a question about French jihadists imprisoned in Iraq, the French president said: “Those who freely choose to go fight in foreign theaters and be convicted of committing terrorist acts in a sovereign state” should “be tried in this country.”
Of the 150 French arrested on charges of joining ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the vast majority of them are held in Kurdish administration camps and detention centers in northeast Syria, while 11 French jihadists are detained in Iraq. where they were sentenced to death.
An Iraqi official said Macron’s visit on “Iraqi sovereignty” is also an indirect message to Turkey.
Turkey carried out a military air and ground operation attacking Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq in July, enraging Baghdad, which condemned the violation of its territory.
The tension is currently more intense between France and Turkey against the background of the conflict in Libya, where the two countries are accused of supporting two parties in conflict, and disputes in the eastern Mediterranean for gas exploration.
Macron will not visit Erbil, according to Iraqi sources, who indicated that he will meet Kurdish officials in Baghdad.
In 2017, shortly after his arrival at the Elysee, Macron mediated between the Kurdish authorities and the Iraqi government after disputes arose over the Kurds organizing a referendum on independence opposed by Baghdad.
Macron said at the time: “May Iraq be strong, reconciled and pluralistic, and recognize that each component is a condition for immediate and medium-term stability” for the Middle East.
[ad_2]
