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BAGHDAD It was a stark message: A convoy of masked Shia militiamen, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, drove openly through central Baghdad denouncing the US presence in Iraq and threatening to cut off the prime ministers ear.

The ominous display underscored the growing threat that rogue militias loyal to Tehran pose for Iraq. It came at a time when Baghdad seeks to bolster relations with its Arab neighbours and is gearing up for early elections, scheduled for October, amid a worsening economic crisis and a global pandemic.

Last weeks procession also sought to undermine Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimis credibility, with Iran-aligned militias driving down a major highway and passing near ministries as Iraqi security forces looked on. Ahead of a new round of talks between the US government and Iraq, it sent a stark warning that the militias will not be curbed.

A fourth round of so-called strategic Iraq-US talks is scheduled for next week after the Iraqi government requested it, partly in response to pressure from Shia political factions and militias loyal to Iran that have lobbied for the remaining US troops to leave Iraq.

The talks, which began in June under the Trump administration, would be the first under President Joe Biden. On the agenda is an array of issues, including the presence of US combat forces in the country and the issue of Iraqi militias acting outside of state authority. The discussions are meant to shape the future of the US-Iraq relationship, a senior U.S. official recently said.

It is a tightrope for Kadhimi, who has said that bringing armed groups under state control is a goal of his administration but finds himself increasingly helpless in reining in the groups. US officials have said Washington will use the meetings to clarify that US forces remain in Iraq for the sole purpose of ensuring the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group cannot reconstitute itself a signal that the US seeks to keep the 2,500 remaining American soldiers in Iraq.

Political analyst Ihsan Alshamary said the militias military-style parade sought to weaken Kadhimis government and project strength.

It also aims at sending a message to Washington: We are the decision makers, not the government, he added.

The militiamen in the parade were mostly from a shadowy Shiite group known as Rabaallah (Quarter of God) one of about a dozen that surfaced after the Washington-directed drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020.

Both Soleimani and Muhandis were key in commanding and controlling a wide array of Iran-backed groups operating in Iraq, and their deaths in the US airstrike outraged Iraqi lawmakers, prompting them to approve a non-binding resolution to oust US- led coalition forces from the country.

Since then, militias have also become increasingly unruly and disparate. Some Washington and Iraq-based observers argue the militias have splintered into new, previously unknown groups, allowing them to claim attacks under different names to mask the extent of their involvement.

They are tools used for negotiating purposes and putting pressure on Washington when it comes to (Irans) nuclear file, Alshamary said, referring to efforts under Biden to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.

Rabaallah, for instance, is believed to be a front for one of the most powerful Iran-backed factions in Iraq, which the US has blamed for rocket attacks targeting the American embassy in Baghdad and military bases that house U.S. troops.

Last October, the group set fire to the headquarters of a Kurdish political party in Baghdad and attacked the offices of local media organisations in the capital. It has also been blamed for assaults on liquor stores and an Asian spa center in the Iraqi capital.

Rabaallah went so far as to try and dictate the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar to the dollar, demanded the approval of a budget and denounced what it said was US occupation of Iraq. It displayed posters of Kadhimi with a shoe printed across his forehead and a pair of scissors on the side of his face, with the words: Its time to cut his ear off.

Iraq lies on the fault line between the Shia power Iran and the mostly Sunni Arab world and has long been a theatre for settling regional scores. It has also been dragged into the US-Iran proxy war. And though its relations with the US took a hit following the airstrike that killed Soleimani, ties have improved since Kadhimi approved by both Iran and the US became prime minister.

Political analyst Tamer Badawi said the Shia militias aim to send a dual message to Khadimis administration. The first is a warning against any attempt at curbing the militias influence under the banner of fighting corruption. The other is to pressure the government to push the US to scale down the number of coalition forces in Iraq.

For his part, Kadhimi has tried to curb the militias money-making border activities, including smuggling and bribery, thus showing his American interlocutors that he is capable of keeping domestic adversaries in check.

Badawi said the pressure from the militias will likely increase ahead of the strategic talks with the US on April 7.

In the days after the Rabaallah parade, Iraqi security forces fanned out in the streets and main squares of the capital Baghdad in what a senior Iraqi security official described as a reassuring message.

But for Baghdad shopkeeper Aqeel al-Rubai, who watched the February militia parade from the street, the militia show was a terrifying sight that reflects a powerless government.

I saw that this country is insecure and unfit to live in peace, he said.

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Pro-Iran militias in Iraq go rogue trying to pressure Kadhimi | | AW - The Arab Weekly

I saw something new in Baghdad recently. At one of the citys many checkpoints, men in white coats and N95 masks were standing in front of the soldiers, checking whether passengers in minivans were wearing their masks. The cigarette vendors that wind their way through the waiting cars had added a sideline in selling surgical masks.

Apart from that, however, it is difficult to see the effect COVID-19 has had on the city. The pain I witness every day at the hospital we at Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) are running is hidden from most of the people who crowd the streets. But that suffering has now redoubled as Iraq is in the grip of a ferocious second wave, with Baghdad again its epicentre.

Since the end of September we have admitted around 350 critical and severe patients, but 120 of those have been in the last month alone. To cope with the influx, we have expanded from 36 beds to 51, but the death rate remains frightening. On a single day recently, despite the best efforts of our team, seven patients died.

We are all tired now, medical and non-medical staff alike. The first peak in Baghdad was long, from July to November, straining the supply of oxygen in the city and leaving the health system teetering on the brink of collapse.

The number of cases only briefly went down in December and January before mounting precipitously from February onwards. There were 714 cases on 31 January, and 3,428 on 28 February. March 25 saw the highest number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic 6,513 but even that number is likely to be underestimated. The virus did not leave us long to draw breath before being submerged by this second wave.

The death has affected me mentally, says Dr Yassin Hassan, who works with us in intensive care, but I try to overcome it, for the sake of other patients. I listen to music, or talk with my family about it and then come back to work.

The false hope of the end of the first wave hit him hard.The curfew was lifted, and the city came back to life, and then the numbers sky-rocketed again. Its sad now, we dont have beds for everyone.

I have been here in Baghdad for a year now, working to help the Iraqi authorities with their response to the virus. At first we started to work inside the respiratory care unit in al-Kindi hospital, but we quickly found that the hospital was unable to cope with the number of patients and the close follow-up they required. Many senior doctors were only present in the hospital for a brief period in the morning, and their junior colleagues were often unwilling or unable to take decisions without them, placing them and us in an untenable position as the outbreak progressed.

We opened our own unit in the hospital in September, first with 24 beds, before moving to a new building and expanding the capacity to 36 beds in December. We found new ways of working with our Iraqi colleagues and managed to bring the mortality down for the serious and critical cases we are treating.

Although this remains a brutally deadly disease in its severe forms, we are now discharging around 40 per cent of our patients a vast improvement on the rate of survival from when we initially took over. But we never expected to still be here, one year after we began what we thought would be temporary support to the Iraqi health system.

Without vaccination the end of COVID-19 is hard to see. Yet the country has so far received just 386,000 doses of the vaccine, a number totally inadequate for a country of 40 million. According to the Ministry of Health there are around 216,000 doctors, nurses and paramedical staff in the country.

Newly delivered doses may allow some of those medical workers to be vaccinated, but many of the doctors we work with do not know when their turn for vaccination will come, and in the meantime our colleagues continue to fall sick.

While other doses are supposed to arrive in the coming months, much more needs to be done to help Iraq get vaccines into arms. The country should be considered one of the priorities globally for vaccination efforts, and a priority in the Middle East where it has been one of the hardest hit nations.

With a health system weakened by years of conflict and its associated ills, and an economy struggling in the wake of the crash in the price of oil, the government will struggle to vaccinate all those who need it without substantial assistance from other countries in the procurement of vaccines and other international organisations in their distribution.

Until that happens we will continue working to save lives in our hospital. We know, however, that even when this wave recedes it will not be the end unless Iraqis get the vaccines they so desperately need.

Originally posted here:
Only vaccination will end the ferocious spread of COVID-19 in Iraq - Iraq - ReliefWeb

Almost 2,000 children under-10 across the country have been infected in just two weeks.

A rising number of infants and children in Iraq are reported to have been infected by COVID-19 without access to care, as the variant that was first discovered in the UK is wreaking havoc in the country, with reports of children dying[1], Save the Children warned today.

According to Iraqs Ministry of Health, thousands of cases have been recorded among children since the discovery of the variant in Iraq was officially announced on 15 February[2]. The number of children under 10 who were diagnosed jumped from 11,699 cases as of 11 March to 13,546 cases on 24 March, an increase of 15.7% in just two weeks.[3]

Although there is no definitive answer yet, scientists earlier suggested that the new variant is transmitting across all ages, including children.[4]Earlier in February, the ministry said the variant accounts for 50% of all new COVID-19 cases.[5]

Doctors have told Save the Children that they have seen an increase in children being hospitalised with COVID-19. But they fear its only the tip of the iceberg, as many cases are not taken to hospitals or are only diagnosed in clinics and pharmacies, where they are not officially recorded.

Dr. Taha Abdulmawjoud from Ninawa, who works with Save the Children, said:

We have seen children as young as 10 admitted to hospital and there is a higher percentage of children with the virus in primary health care centres and paediatric hospitals than before. We worry that many children will catch the virus without having access to proper testing or isolation, which risks them spreading among their friends and older family members.

The Ministry of Health said the virus is spreading quickly across villages and cities. In some instances, it has infected whole families. The infection rate has jumped by 110% over the last two weeks of February compared to the first half of the month[6].

Overcrowded schools are also likely to lead to a high risk of infections among children, Save the Children warned.

"We fear this new variant, particularly for first-grade students, *said Saleh*, a father of three from Jalawla, northeast of Baghdad. The communities around us are not very careful. We know the new variant can infect children. We have heard of serious infections of children."*

Save the Children is calling for urgent support to step up access to protective equipment, provide disinfection and sanitation kits to schools and enforce social distancing and mask-wearing rules.

Ishtiaq Mannan, Save the Childrens country director in Iraq, said:

These are worrying signs that COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll on children in Iraq. Infants and children under 10 have been either infected or have reportedly died because of this virus.

We are worried that the new variant will start spreading undetected among children. It could be a matter of time before Iraqs healthcare system is overwhelmed.

Save the Children calls on the Iraqi Ministry of Health to prioritise vaccinating frontline health workers and other priority groups, followed by teachers among others, as well as those who are in direct contact with children.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in Iraq, Save the Children has been raising awareness in communities, schools and among children on the virus and ways of prevention, running awareness-raising sessions on social distance and the importance of wearing masks. The organisation is also continuously providing hygiene kits and personal protective equipment to schools' staff and to health workers around the five governorates it operates within Iraq.

*name changed to protect childrens identities

For more information or interview requests, kindly reach out to:

[1] https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/Children-die-of-Covid-19-in-Iraq-Health-...

[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-iraq-idUSKBN2AG1WT

[3] WHO data analysed by Save the Children https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNjljMDhiYmItZTlhMS00MDlhLTg3MjItM...

[4] https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-variant-children/u...

[5] https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/180220211

[6] Bi-weekly confirmed cases jumped from 23,232 between 1-14 February to 48,839 between 15-28 February according to official figures: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNjljMDhiYmItZTlhMS00MDlhLTg3MjItM...

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COVID-19 in Iraq: Hundreds of infants and children infected every day as new variant spreads - Iraq - ReliefWeb

Ali Allawi,Iraqs finance minister, hasindicated that his government will seek to diversify its economy by maximizing revenue streams from non-oil sources. At present, Iraq relies on oil for a staggering 96% of its annual budget, which has left it somewhat vulnerable in the wake of plummeting prices and the fallout from the pandemic. The move is part of a wider plan to reform the countrys bloated public sector and push for greater vibrancy in its privately-owned interests.

However, that latter objective has been greatly compromised by entrenched corruption among the political elite, often at a staggering scale. Since 2003,$450 billion in public funds have been embezzled by various government ministries and leading personnel through a variety of creative schemes. The victim of this is not only the Iraqi public but foreign companies as well and it seems things arent going to change any time soon.

In fact, a recent ruling by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an arbitration body of the World Bank, effectively endorsed that unsustainable state of play by finding in favor of the Iraqi government in a dispute between domestic telecoms operator Korek and Kuwaiti logistics company Agility. Agility, who had its claims of improper appropriation of $380 million summarily dismissed, was also ordered to pay more than $5 million in legal costs, despite significant evidence against Korek and Iraqs National Communications and Media Commission (CMC). The verdict, which has been deemed unjust and arbitrary by observers, will only send a message to private investors that Iraq is not a place where commercial rights will be upheld.

Easing the pressure on the public sector

While weaning itself off of its unhealthy dependence on oil is a key priority for Iraq, there are perhaps even more pressing issues which must be addressed. Chief among those is the distended nature of its public sector, which accounts foran estimated 60%of all employment opportunities in the country, swallowingaround 25%of GDP in the process. The problems with this setup are twofold. On the one hand, the livelihoods of over half of all adult Iraqis are tethered to the tumultuous fortunes of the government, meaning they could be subject to delay or non-payment in fallow times such as last year. On the other hand, it all but demands an almost obsequious obedience to the regime, since external jobs are few and far between.

To its credit, Baghdad does seem to be aware of these problems, having published a white paper in 2020 outlining its aims to transition to a more market-based economy. Unfortunately, the document itself was very light in the way of concrete details or plans, while the looming prospect ofan imminent election means those in power are unlikely to risk alienating the electorate by trimming the flab and leaving countless Iraqis unemployed in the process. Nonetheless, there have been some promising signs in the shape of a partnership with Germany, which hasalready resultedin the creation of 1,000 jobs and the supported education, training, and placement of 8,000 young people.

No steps forward, two steps back

Its clear that internal reforms must be accompanied by external assistance if the Iraqi economy is to succeed in its aims. Sadly, the attractiveness of Iraq to outside investment was dealt a hammer blow in February. Chaired by Cavinder Bull and comprised of members John Beechey and Sean Murphy, the ICSID tribunalrejected the claims of Agility in its dealings with Iraqi telecoms firm Korek. Agility had originallyfiled its claimwith ICSID four years ago, alleging that the Iraqi governments CMC had indirectly confiscated its $380 million investment and had acted in contravention of the bilateral protocol between Kuwait and Iraq, which was instituted in 2015.

However, the tribunal dismissed Agilitys claim on technicalities, arguing that the CMC decision predated the protocol and that Agility had not exhausted all avenues of challenging that outcome in Iraq itself. For its part, Agilitycalled the ruling fundamentally flawed, with ICSID having failed to investigate evidence of corruption at the highest level of the CMC, despite significant global press coverage of the issue by outlets like the Financial Times.

As such, the verdict hardly sends out a positive message to the international investment community. Indeed, it merely serves to discourage other actors from pouring funds into a country where their own interests and rights are clearly not valued, as well as implicitly endorsing the endemic corruption that exists almost ubiquitously in Iraq.

Rotten to the core

Its this latter implication which is perhaps the most worrying outcome of the ICSID decision. Its well known that the government not only abuses the unwieldy size of its public sector through the fabrication of a reported 300,000 ghost jobs but also has deep ties to militia groups such as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which siphons off millions of taxpayers money each and every year. This inhospitable climate is not only unwelcoming to foreign investors but also drives hardworking Iraqis to seek a more equitable employment environment elsewhere. Its no surprise that corruption was cited as one of the chief reasons why refugees left Iraq for Europe in 2016.

Its exactly this type of corruption that institutions like the World Bank are supposed to combat. By providing the support that developing countries need to elevate themselves out of economic misery, stamp out illegal practices and implement effective policies, these ostensibly philanthropic organizations are touted as beacons of hope and help in a world in desperate need of both. However, the negligence and injustice of the recent ICSID ruling underlines how the opposite can actually often be the case. Rather than helping Iraq reform, it has only contributed to the entrenchment of an iniquitous status quo that will only serve to keep the country and its populace rooted in poverty and inequality.

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ICSID Ruling Sets Retrogressive Precedent for Overseas Investment in Iraq - International Policy Digest

WASHINGTON--The United States has renewed a waiver allowing Iraq to pay for electricity imported from Iran, this time giving Baghdad 120 days to reduce its energy dependence on neighbouring Tehran, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday.

The waiver was renewed despite American sanctions imposed after former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers and Iran began breaching the deals terms.

Washington has issued regular waivers to Iraq since it reimposed sanctions, but last year shortened their length to encourage Iraq to reduce its use of Iranian energy.

Wednesdays 120-day extension was the first under President Joe Biden, who has sought to restart diplomacy with Iran over returning to the nuclear deal.

The waiver ensures that Iraq is able to meet its short-term energy needs while it takes steps to reduce its dependence on Iranian energy imports, the spokesman said.

However, such steps are taking time. Three years ago the Baghdad governments Mass Energy Group Holding was negotiating a deal with GE Power to add up to 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity to the Besmaya power plant not far from the capital. This will bring the capacity of what is already the countrys largest power station up to 4.5GW, enough to supply four and a half million homes.

Link:
Washington grants Iraq a waiver to pay for Iranian electricity | | AW - The Arab Weekly