The meeting was headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, President Barham Salih, and Speaker of the Parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi, and attended by The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, discussing the recent developments in Iraq’s political impasse and instability.
Iraq was pulled into chaos after powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced his “definitive retirement” from politics last week, setting off violent clashes between his supporters and loyalists of rival Iran-backed militias which claimed the lives of at least 30 people and injured over 500 others.
“The attendees affirmed that the recent political developments and the subsequent differences bears everyone the responsibility of maintaining stability, protecting the country from further crises, supporting de-escalation efforts, preventing violence, and adopting national dialogue to reach a solution,” read a statement from PM Kadhimi’s office on Monday.
The need to activate state institutions, crippled by the political crisis, were emphasized during the meeting, which also saw the attendees deciding on forming a technical team to pave the way towards early parliamentary elections in the country.
Sadr, who resigned all of his 73 MPs from the parliament in June, called for the dissolution of the legislature and the holding of early elections in August, in light of the current parliament’s failure to form Iraq’s new government. The call from the influential cleric, further enraged the thousands of his supporters who were already holding sit-in demonstrations in Baghdad’s Green Zone protesting the delay in government formation.
The political actors renewed the invitation to the Sadrist Movement to join the dialogue table - who once again boycotted the session- in hopes of resolving the outstanding issues through communication.
Sadr has repeatedly stated that he will not sit with the “corrupt”, referring to his pro-Iran rivals Coordination Framework.
Following the deadly clashes in Baghdad, world powers issued calls for all Iraqi leaders to engage in constructive dialogue aimed at resolving the disagreements and bringing an end to the political impasse that has plagued the country for nearly a year.
