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By John Lee.

Following the strengthening of relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and the planned reopening of the Saudi embassy in Baghdad next week, there is now a real possibility that the oil pipeline between the two countries could be reinstated.

Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Baghdad following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and it took over the pipeline in 2001 as compensation for Iraqi debts.

Worldbulletin reports that the Saudi-Iraqi pipeline at one time carried one million barrels of oil per day to Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, and the condition of the pipeline has not deteriorated significantly.

The Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has reportedly come out in support of the pipeline.

(Source: Worldbulletin)

(Flag image via Shutterstock)

Days before snow was expected to fall in the foothills of Dohuk, Iraq, 900 families are moving into the new camp for internally-displaced persons (IDPs) built through the collaboration of 8 UN agencies planned and led by UN-Habitat.

UN-Habitat’s acting Regional Director from Arab States, Mr Dyfed Aubrey and UN-Habitat’s Country Director Dr Erfan Ali visited the camp built in Dawodye to inspect the shelter units prior to handover to the Dohuk Governorate on 6 January, and to meet the 300 families that were moving into their new homes that day.

Families had been displaced from Sinjar in August due to the ongoing conflict with Islamic State in the region and had been trapped on Mount Sinjar for weeks before fleeing to and being successively displaced from a series of locations on the Syrian border. They eventually took temporary refuge in a tented camp in Sarrensk Dohuk and arrived at the Dawodye camp for longer term refuge in early 2015.

A new model of IDP camp

UN-Habitat has noted how many camps in the region, over years of protracted conflicts, have become slums as tents get replaced with more permanent housing. This camp, funded by the Government of Saudi Arabia, has been planned with adequate street widths and with public spaces, in line with urban planning principles, and shelter is provided in prefabricated units.

Over an approximate three-year time-frame, prefabricated units, with a 15 year design life, are expected to be more cost effective than traditional tented camps, and provide dignity, improved protection from the elements and good sanitary conditions to the users.

“We are so happy and relieved to be in a place where we feel safe and will be comfortable even in the winter,” remarked a teenage girl who was moving into her family’s new shelter. Parents remarked on how they looked forward to their children returning soon to school, and returning to a more normal life.

Delivering as One-UN

Working together, UN-Habitat and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) provided shelters in partnership with local NGOs, UNDP provided roads, drainage, water and sanitation in partnership with the local government and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) provided solar lighting.

In addition, UNICEF will provide play areas and is building a primary school and the UN Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) will provide a secondary school, WHO is providing a health facility and the UN’s population agency, UNFPA, will build maternal health facilities.

All social facilities are also built with prefabricated units. The UN High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, is providing non-food items and has co-led the beneficiary identification process with the Dohuk Governorate. They will work with the Dohuk Governorate on the camp’s management.

UN-Habitat is planning and coordinating the construction of three IDP camps in Iraq with total capacity of 5,329 shelter units to host over 30,000 IDPs in Suleymaniah, Dohuk and Erbil, and plans to extend the programme to new sites in Dohuk, Kerbala and Baghdad.

(Source: UN)

National Overview

One year on from the start of the militant uprising in Anbar province, Iraq’s fractured regions remain on sharply different political trajectories. In the Sunni heartlands of Ramadi and Fallujah where an initial protest by local tribesmen forced the withdrawal of the Iraqi security forces in December 2014, ISIS units launched a major offensive against urban centres and ISF border posts this week, driving up nationwide fatalities even as the pace of attacks on northern battlefields slowed to a halt on many key fronts. Figures released by the Iraqi government estimating the death of at least 15,000 people in 2014 (an increase of 130% from the previous year), along with hundreds of thousands of refugees also occurred amid the confirmation of yet further growth of the Iraqi oil economy, with production now reaching levels unseen since the 1980s. Embodying these distinct trends has been the province of Kirkuk, which despite witnessing considerable security challenges and refugee influxes over recent months continues to operate a functioning oil economy, resuming international exports this week through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

North

Peshmerga-led forces report limited gains in the Makhmour and Qayara areas south-east of Mosul, as the allied advance slows in the central plains. While ISIS units continue to fiercely resist all movement west from Peshmerga-held villages in the disputed territories, no major assaults were organized this week in the northern governorates, most likely in order to support the ongoing Anbar offensive. Instead, the majority of violence took the form of skirmishes and mortar fire on ISF-held frontline cities, including Samarra, Tikrit and Muqdadiya, where sporadic VBIEDs continue to be used regularly as means of undermining and delaying the allied push. While challenging to independently corroborate, a growing number of local reports have also suggested a depletion of manpower and support in ISIS-held areas of Hawijah, Sharqat and Mosul with hundreds of civilians reported to have been abducted over the past seven days as a targeted policy to cow the local population.

Central

ISIS forces press in on Ramadi and coalition training centres in line with a sustained assault on remaining ISF positions in south-central Anbar. At the time of writing, fierce battles are underway to gain control of the Andalus, Hoz and Mostaudah districts of downtown Ramadi, following an offensive launched over the past 24 hours. The energy of the current ISIS advances is likely to have been facilitated by the redirection supplies and heavy armour further south on 04 January, which has enabled the group’s ground forces to surround and besiege key ISF installations in the vicinity of Ramadi, including the Ain Al Assad air base where US military personnel are currently stationed. Control of the Iraqi-Jordanian, and Iraq-Saudi Arabian borders was also tested this week in a series of deadly VBIED complex attacks upon ISF and Saudi military posts. Such attacks have come at the expense of momentum in the northern battlefields of Hit and Haditha, a fact ISF units are expected to exploit over the coming days in renewed clearance operations against the Kubaisa sub-district.

South

Localised demonstrations in the Qurna area over the reporting period increase the prospect of an escalation in economic unrest against oil and gas facilities, amid unchanged security dynamics in neighbouring governorates. The largest of these disruptions occurred on 04 January when as many as 600 protestors erected tents and closed roads close to the Jabani bridge of north-eastern Basra, demanding jobs and work opportunities from IOCs in the area. News sources have indicated that Royal Dutch Shell, one of the main developers of the Majnoon field were specifically targeted by the demonstrators, due to alleged failure to uphold employment commitments, with protests only ending after local political representatives invited the group’s leaders to discuss job allocations the following day. While no further incidents have occurred, community relations are expected to remain tense in the Qurna area as details of the deal with local government are made public. Less than a year ago, hundreds of protestors blocked a main entrance to the West Qurna-2 oilfield in the area following an employment dispute with Russian IOC Lukoil.

By Patrick Schmidt.

After more than twenty-five years without an embassy in Iraq, the Saudi Foreign Ministry has announced that it will reopen its embassy in Baghdad.

Saudi officials will travel to the country this week to begin preparations for the construction of the new facility.

Saudi Arabia also plans to open a consulate in Erbil.

In an unrelated development, two Saudi border guards have been killed and a third wounded in a suicide bomb attack at the frontier town of Judayyidat Arar, close to the border with Iraq's Anbar province.

(Sources: IBTimes, BBC)

(Flag image via Shutterstock)

By John Lee.

Iraq and Russia are leading the global surge in oil exports despite a highly competitive market. This has maintained low prices not seen since 2009, with a February settlement for Brent Crude at $56.42 a barrel.

Bloomberg reported record export data of 10.6 million barrels a day from Russia and 2.9 million bpd from Iraq, a rate not seen since 1980, the height of the post nationalisation oil industry under Saddam Hussein.

Slowing Chinese economic growth and a slowdown in European manufacturing, as well as Saudi geopolitical motivations have created an unprecedented oil market.

A strong dollar has also contributed to what analyst Walt Zimmerman described as a "double whammy" for prices.

This has forced oil dependent nations such as Iraq to urgently review their budgets for 2015.

(Source: Bloomberg)

By Ali Mamouri for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Despite all the negative developments concerning extremist groups in the Middle East, they have had a positive impact on religious communities.

Shiite and Sunni institutions in Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to denounce and condemn extremists, deeming their acts to be in direct conflict with Islam.

The extremist voices calling for the killing of other Islamic denominations have been drowned out by calls for moderation, dialogue and cooperation.

The past three weeks have witnessed three major conferences to combat religious extremism in the Middle East. The Iranian city of Qom, the Vatican and Cairo have each hosted conferences one at a time.

Senior clerics from different Islamic sects took part in these conferences and stressed the need for joint action to combat extremism and militancy.

The Pontifical Councils initiated the interreligious dialogue under the auspices of Pope Francis and held the Catholic-Muslim summit titled "Muslims and Christians: Believers living in society," Dec. 2-4. The conference was attended by senior Christian and Muslim clerics of every stripe.

In the same vein, during his visit to Turkey on Nov. 28-30, the pope called upon believers of all religions to differentiate between religiosity and intolerance and to reject all forms of extremism and fundamentalism that use religion. He also urged Muslim clerics to condemn the brutal acts of the Islamic State (IS) that are being committed in the name of Islam.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said that on Dec. 5 he had received promising and encouraging messages from Muslim scholars who attended the conference.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and World Food Programme (WFP) have collaborated to deliver eight mobile medical clinics which arrived in Erbil on Sunday.

These urgently needed clinics will be immediately deployed to parts of Iraq and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The vehicles, flown in from Amman, Jordan, were procured by WHO and have been purpose-built to address the health needs of displaced populations residing in places with limited access to health care services – in camps, informal settlements and urban areas across the country.

The clinics were made possible through the support of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and are the first of their kind to be brought to Iraq to accelerate response efforts.

To mark the arrival of the mobile clinics, a ceremony set to host the Ministers of Health of both Iraq and KRI governments, a delegation from the government of Saudi Arabia, and representatives from WHO and WFP, will be held at Erbil airport on Wednesday.

“We are very pleased about the arrival of these new mobile clinics which will provide round-the-clock health services for vulnerable populations in Iraq,” said Dr Jaffar Hussein, WHO Representative for Iraq.

“Not only are mobile health clinics swift and relatively cost-efficient, they also enable health care to be provided as close as possible to affected communities. Each clinic has the capacity to support patient examinations, vaccinations for children, diagnosis and laboratory confirmation of diseases, pre- and antenatal care, the treatment of minor conditions such as skin infections, management of minor wounds, and to address dehydration,” he said.

The first flight in a new UNHCR airlift aimed at providing winter aid to Iraqis displaced by conflict this year has landed in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region. The first of seven planned flights from Pakistan touched down at Erbil International Airport at 2345 local time (2045 GMT) on Thursday, carrying 3,600 tent insulation kits. The kits, comprising polystyrene flooring and fiber insulation for tent walls, will be distributed in camps across Iraq.

Six more cargo flights are scheduled to arrive before 12 December, bringing a total of 25,000 insulation kits to Iraq from Lahore, where a major producer is located.

"Time is growing short," warns UNHCR Regional Director Amin Awad. With temperatures now dropping across Iraq, we must get this essential support to the most vulnerable Iraqi displaced immediately."

Latest figures now indicate that around 2 million Iraqis have been displaced since January. More than 60,000 people are now living in eight tented camps, and new camps are being constructed to house more than 300,000 others. Currently, as many as 700,000 people are living in unfinished or abandoned buildings, schools, religious centres, and even in parks.

While UNHCR, the central Government in Baghdad, the regional government in Kurdistan, and dozens of aid agencies are working to provide safe and warm shelter to all in need, challenges of time and scale loom ahead. UNHCR and other organizations are also providing additional winter relief in-situ, for those living in substandard housing who will not be moving to camps.

As Iraq struggles to deal with the increasing security threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as well as with dire financial and humanitarian conditions, the United Nations envoy to the country has cited an inclusive political process as vital to finding comprehensive solutions.

In an interview with UN Radio, Nickolay Mladenov, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), said that there is “general agreement,” not just in the UN but in Iraq as well, that the security element of dealing with ISIL is one part of the solution, but is not the comprehensive solution to the problems facing the country.

“What also needs to happen is a political process, and a political process that allows for the various communities of Iraq to come back together,” Mr. Mladenov stressed.

“The last decade has seen a lot of violence that has been driven by divisive politics, that [in turn] has been driven by the communities looking more inwardly rather than working together, and it is time now to address that,” he added.

Indeed, he said, the new Government in Iraq is inclusive of all the political parties, and is embarking on an agenda of addressing some of the long-standing grievances that exist within Iraqi society, including those related to poverty, security, participation in decision-making and revenue-sharing.

As such, the UN is working “intensely” with the Government of Iraq, as well as with Kurdish authorities and with various groups on the ground to find where agreement can be reached on security, political and social solutions, and, ultimately, pushing for those agreements to be implemented, Mr. Mladenov said.

“Our role really in this process – what I think is fundamentally the role of the United Nations around the world – is to bring people together, to facilitate dialogue, and to come up with proposals for solutions that could work on the ground, and to help implement them,” he said.

The atrocious crimes perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) risk plunging Iraq into catastrophe as the country reels from bitter sectarian tensions and a growing humanitarian crisis affecting over 5 million people, top United Nations officials warned today, as they called on the international community to increase efforts in aiding Iraq’s full transition towards a stable democracy.

Briefing the UN Security Council this morning, UN envoy for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, delivered an ominous assessment of the on-the-ground situation in Iraq, amid an ongoing offensive perpetrated by ISIL militants and a growing number of internally displaced persons (IPDs) fleeing the brutal violence.

“ISIL’s strategy is obvious – to insert themselves in the ethnic and religious fault lines of Iraq, to undermine legitimate authorities and to spread fear among all communities,” said Nickolay Mladenov in his address to the Council. “Their goals are also clear – to destroy the Iraqi State and replace it with a ‘State of Terror’ built on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Such a “State of Terror” governed by ISIL and spanning the territory of Iraq and neighbouring Syria would then ultimately seek to advance on the rest of the region, warned Mr. Mladenov, destabilize bordering States and “threaten global peace and security.”

The emergence of ISIL as a cogent threat to the democratic and humanitarian stability of Iraq has been steady yet devastating. Adopting a Takfiri belief system used by many extremely radical religious groups, including Nigeria’s Boko Haram, ISIL militants automatically assume the authority to declare anybody to be kafir, or apostate, condemning thousands of ethnic and religious minorities and women and girls to gross human rights violations and, in many cases, death.