He further emphasized to all parties the importance of pursuing political initiatives and addressing the legitimate grievances of all communities within the framework of the Iraqi constitution.
DAS McGurk also met with a team from the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI), including Special Representative to the Secretary General Nickolay Mladenov, to discuss UNAMI's humanitarian efforts in western Iraq as well as preparations for parliamentary elections to be held on April 30th.
McGurk welcomed the convoy of aid that reached Fallujah on Friday thanks to close cooperation between UNAMI and the GOI's Ministry of Defense. He also confirmed the strong U.S. Support for elections to be held on time, noting the rights of the Iraqi people under the Iraqi constitutional to hold their national leaders accountable every four years.
On Saturday, DAS McGurk traveled to Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), where he met with President Masoud Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Nechirvan Barzani, Deputy Prime Minister of the GOI, Rowsch Shaways, and Second Deputy Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Barham Saleh. McGurk welcomed the KRG's support for political and security initiatives targeting ISIL and noted the success of the KRG's security services in dismantling an ISIL cell that had earlier targeted Erbil.
McGurk further encouraged Erbil and Baghdad to finalize arrangements to promote the export of hydrocarbon resources from all parts of Iraq, including from the IKR, in a manner that benefits all Iraqis on a fair and equitable basis. He stressed throughout the United States' commitment to the vision of a unified and federal Iraq as defined in the Iraqi constitution.
(Source: Embassy of the United States)
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