GERMANY PLEDGES MORE AID TO NORTHERN IRAQ AGAINST IS
Berlin, 20 Syawwal 1435/17 August 2014 (MINA) – Germany has pledged more assistance to the Kurdish regional government in Iraq in combating the militant group Islamic State (IS) that has wreaked havoc in the country since June.
German government allocates 20 million euros in humanitarian assistance to Iraqi Kurdish government against Islamic State insurgency
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met Saturday Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish administration, after holding talks with the central government in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Monday.
“We want to show our support and do not want to leave you alone,” said Steinmeier at a press conference in Erbil, calling on Kurds, Arabs, Sunnis, and Shiites in the region to conduct a “healthy” political process to end IS terror. This week, Iraq’s president named a new prime minister in an effort to contain the crisis.
Steinmeier said his government was ready to deliver 20 million euros worth of humanitarian aid to Erbil, Kurdish north’s capital, in addition to an earlier sum of 4.5 million euros in relief supplies.
The leaders also discussed arming the peshmerga, the armed forces of the Kurdish government, which have proved more capable than the Iraqi army in staving off the Sunni insurgency.
The German foreign minister said his country would explore political options “to their full extent” so as to help the Kurds.
On Friday, the European Union condemned the Islamic State’s “atrocities and abuses” and welcomed member states’ decisions to supply arms to Kurdish forces, promising to block the sale of oil from IS-controlled oilfields and establish a humanitarian “air bridge” for better logistical support to the region.
The U.S. has carried out a number of airstrikes against the jihadist group over the last week, and provided aid drops for the Ezidi minority trapped in Mount Sinjar.
Iraqi President Fuad Masum appointed deputy parliament speaker Haider al-Abadi to form a new government, replacing Nouri al-Maliki who has been partially held responsible for the current crisis on account of his policies shunning the Sunni population in Iraq.
Armed groups linked to IS have driven an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis from their homes, targeting Turkmens, Ezidis, Shiite Muslims and Christians.
The self-styled Islamic State has declared a ‘caliphate’ in the territories it has captured in Iraq and Syria, and seeks to expand it by lifting national boundaries in the Middle East drawn by European nations in the wake of World War I. (T/P012/E01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
