Overview
- Antonio Guterres arrived in Baghdad on December 13 and met Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani to mark the mission’s closure at year’s end.
- Iraq’s leadership cast the drawdown as evidence it can manage national affairs, with Al Sudani describing a transition to full self‑reliance and honoring 22 UN staff killed in 2003.
- The UN stressed that its political mission is ending but agencies such as UNICEF, WHO, IOM and UNDP will continue under new cooperation frameworks focused on sustainable development.
- UNAMI cited major gains, including a significant security improvement and a November parliamentary election viewed as highly credible with about 56% turnout.
- Significant needs remain with roughly one million people still displaced, including over 100,000 Yazidis, as Guterres noted Iraq’s efforts to repatriate citizens from Syria’s al‑Hol camp; he has also recommended Barham Salih to lead UNHCR pending required approvals.