Baghdad, Newspapers published in Baghdad today, Monday, the twenty-seventh of May, followed the timing of the end of the mission of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the procedures for restricting weapons to the state and other issues, including the warnings of issuing large bill of currency without economic support.
Regarding the mission of the United Nations mission, Al-Sabah newspaper, published by the Iraqi Media Network, followed the phone call between Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, during which the timings for ending the work of the UNAMI mission were discussed.
The newspaper stated, quoting an official statement, that: ‘During the call, the relationship between Iraq and the international organization was discussed, and aspects of cooperation in various fields and programmes, especially those related to confronting climate challenges and reducing their impacts, and the tasks of promoting and managing w
ater.’
It continued: “The call touched on Iraq’s message regarding the timings of ending the work of the United Nations Mission/UNAMI, the timings of reducing the levels of personnel in the mission, and ways of bilateral coordination in this path.”
It noted: “The Prime Minister received earlier the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq, Jeanine-Plasschaert, on the occasion of the end of her tenure.”
It quoted Al-Sudani as saying: ‘The Iraqi government continues to cooperate with international agencies affiliated with the United Nations, in accordance with the government program and its development goals at all levels and fields, especially with the progress achieved in the areas of economic reform and infrastructure reconstruction, and the growing capabilities of our armed forces of all types.’
Regarding the issue of weapons inventory, Al-Zawraa newspaper, which is published by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, followed the procedures of the Permanent National Commit
tee for regulating and inventorying weapons in the hands of the state in this regard.
It quoted the spokesman for the committee, Brigadier General Ziad Al-Qaisi, as saying: ‘There are 697 offices in Iraqi police stations in all governorates except the governorates of the Kurdistan region to regulate weapons and confine them to the control of the state,’ indicating: ‘There is a strategy on two axes that the committee that was formed according to Diwani Order No. 52 of 2021, which is headed by the Undersecretary for Police Affairs, Lieutenant General Adel Al-Khalidi, and is directly supervised by the Minister of Interior. There is support from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for all agencies, ministries, and security services represented in this committee, including the National Security and Intelligence Services, the Popular Mobilization Forces, the Media and Communications Authority, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council.’
He added: ‘The committee began its work first by creating files or an information bank on weapons throughout the country, including weapons from civil ministries, and these weapons were registered in the information bank, where it began with the first axis to register personal weapons that citizens possess only at home,’ indicating that: ‘ the Iraqi citizen has the right to own a light weapon in his home, provided that it is legally registered, and the weapon is either a pistol, a rifle, or a hunting rifle.’
He continued: ‘This process began on 3/1 and will continue until 12/31 of 2024, meaning that the citizen has a period from now until the end of the current year,’ stressing that: ‘If the weapon is not registered after this date, he will be subject to legal accountability, and if the citizen has not taken the initiative to register the weapon, there is a security force that will enter for inspection for any reason, and the unregistered weapon will be confiscated and referred to as a legal subject.’
He ex
plained: ‘The second axis is the purchase of medium weapons, which include RBK and PKC weapons, as the Ministry of Interior has allocated one billion dinars to each police command initially for any citizen who wants or desires to sell his medium weapon because it is not subject to registration, and the purchase process will also continue until the 31st /12 of the current year.’
On the economic issue, Al-Zaman newspaper followed the negative effects of issuing large bill of paper currencies without economic support.
It pointed to the experts’ assertion that: ‘If the new currency is issued without appropriate economic support, this may cause a loss of confidence in the currency and an increase in inflation, as the large bill reflect the decline in the real value of the currency, and this indicates the presence of deeper economic problems such as a decline in the purchasing power of the local dinar.’
According to the newspaper, the experts pointed out: ‘This step has a psychological and behavioral impact, whi
ch may contribute to an unplanned increase in spending if the citizen feels that he has more money because of the large bills. Therefore, this step negatively affects the overall economy.’
They explained: ‘Printing large bills of currency facilitates money laundering and corruption operations by transferring large quantities without attracting attention.’
Source: National Iraqi News Agency