United Nations, August 05: A new sense of optimism is spreading among the Iraqi people as the level of violence in their country has began to decline with “promising moves” towards political reconciliation, a top UN official has said.
The people are also happy as the US forces are withdrawing from Iraqi cities, Ad Melkert, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), said in his first briefing to the UN Security Council yesterday.
“This is an unparalleled moment of opportunity, but also one of great sensitivity” for Iraq, as there were factors both internal and external that could tip the scale, he said.
Many Iraqis are determined not just to reclaim their country’s sovereignty, but to mobilise the full responsibilities of it, including delivering economic and social reforms, pursuing political consensus and normalizing regional relationships, he said.
At the same time, the new situation invoked new responsibilities, he said, noting that, although statistics told the story of an overall downward trend in the level of violence, reality was still tainted by an unaccountably high level of indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
Sounding a note of “cautious optimism”, Melkert said the Iraqi people had consistently shown restraint and dignity in the face of often unpredictable and vicious attacks — “deliberate attempts to throw Iraq off its course”.
–Agencies