Tag Archives: Political crisis

One year on, Baghdad falls silent to mark defeat of Islamic State

A member of security forces flashes the victory sign, during marking the one year anniversary of the military defeat of Islamic State, at Tahrir square in Baghdad, Iraq December 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A hush descended on central Baghdad on Monday as Iraqis observed a minute’s silence for those killed in the battle against Islamic State a year after the group was defeated.

Fireworks were scheduled to be set off later in the evening. The government has made the date a national holiday and dubbed it “victory day” but some Iraqis felt little cause for celebration, however.

Iraqis with security forces stop during a minute of silence, marking the one year anniversary of the military defeat of Islamic State, at Tahrir square in Baghdad, Iraq December 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

Iraqis with security forces stop during a minute of silence, marking the one year anniversary of the military defeat of Islamic State, at Tahrir square in Baghdad, Iraq December 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

Little meaningful reconstruction has taken place in cities decimated by battles against the jihadists between 2014 and 2017, and Iraq is in the throes of a new political crisis which has prevented it forming a government that can tackle widespread corruption and lack of jobs and services.

Meanwhile, Islamic State militants are still carrying out insurgent-style attacks against security forces and have been blamed for car bombs and assassinations of local notables.

“Iraqis are scared that the problems in parliament … and the inability to form a full cabinet … have helped create the (unstable) environment for Islamic State cells to re-emerge,” Najah Jameel, 48 a civil society activist, said.

Another Baghdad resident, Dawood Salman, 55, said he would remember the soldiers and fighters who were killed battling the jihadists.

“We congratulate the military and the Popular Mobilisation Forces,” a grouping of mostly Shi’ite paramilitaries, he said.

Iraq’s military, Kurdish forces and the Shi’ite militias backed by U.S.-led air strikes and special forces drove Islamic State militants out of areas they had controlled for three years in 2017.

Former prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared the Sunni Muslim extremists defeated in Iraq on Dec. 9, 2017. The group had ruled over a self-styled caliphate, governing large parts of northern Iraq and eastern Syria according to its fanatical interpretation of Islam and Islamic law.

“This is a day that we are all proud of when our courageous country defeat the enemies of peace,” Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said in a televised address.

(Reporting by Reuters TV in Baghdad; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

Ukraine halts all cargo traffic with rebel-held territory

FILE PHOTO: Activists walk along carriages loaded with coal from the occupied territories which they blocked at Kryvyi Torets station in the village of Shcherbivka in Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 14, 2017. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin/File Photo

By Pavel Polityuk and Alexei Kalmykov

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday halted all cargo traffic with rebel-held territory in the east of the country, formalizing an existing rail blockade by Ukrainian activists that has fueled the worst political crisis in nearly a year.

In a standoff that is hurting the economies of both sides, separatists have seized control of some Ukrainian businesses in their territory after having their coal and steel shipments halted in the rail blockade.

Tensions have escalated in recent days, leading to clashes between law enforcement agencies and the activists, who have been joined by some members of parliament.

The blockade posed a dilemma for President Petro Poroshenko: breaking it up by force could provoke a major domestic backlash, but allowing it to proceed unilaterally risked undermining the state’s authority.

Poroshenko’s Security and Defense Council introduced the state-led cargo ban to counter what he described as the political and social threat posed by the unofficial blockade.

The decision “is dictated by the necessity to prevent the destabilizing of the situation in the country, which is being undermined by political operators,” he told the council.

“Our wish is to prevent social strife,” he said.

The suspension will remain until rebels hand back control of a number of Ukraine-registered businesses and comply with a 2015 peace agreement, according to the Security Council.

The asset seizures have mostly affected businesses in the financial and industrial group owned by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.

On Wednesday, Akhmetov’s DTEK Energy said its main mining assets in rebel-held territory, already idling because of the blockade, had been taken under separatist control. On the international debt market, its 2024 dollar bond fell 1.6 cents to a two-week low on the news.

The crisis has put pressure on Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman’s government just as it is about to lose its year-long immunity from facing any vote of no confidence. It was appointed last April by a fragile coalition that includes Poroshenko’s party, after the previous government fell.

Rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko said Ukraine’s decision had nothing to do with the separatists, saying it was instead “evidence of an internal power struggle in Kiev.”

The suspension will further squeeze the Ukrainian economy, already facing potential rolling blackouts and monthly economic losses of up to 4 billion hryvnias ($150 million) from the existing blockade, according to the government.

The central bank says expected economic growth could nearly halve this year to 1.5 percent if rail traffic does not resume.

Poroshenko expects the government on Thursday to come up with fresh forecasts for the impact of the broader ban on the economy, energy security and currency stability.

The trade squeeze has highlighted the complicated economic relationship between the two sides and represents a new phase in a stand-off that has killed more than 10,000 people.

Germany, which has taken a leading role in trying to end the conflict, said it was seriously concerned about “increasing partitionist tendencies” in eastern Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told a government news conference: “The danger of a military escalation is far from over.”

He said Berlin was urging Ukraine and Russia to live up to agreements made as part of the 2015 Minsk peace process, citing troubling actions by both sides, including the rebel asset seizures and the government’s decision to cut off trade.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Matthias Williams and Mark Trevelyan)