Key Takeaways:

• Iraq’s Parliament Approves Sudani’s New Government – On October 27, the Iraqi parliament voted to approve the government program and cabinet presented by PM Mohammed Shya al-Sudani. During the parliament session, held amid tight security precautions, lawmakers voted to approve 20 ministerial candidates, leaving three portfolios vacant. In his government program, Sudani said he will work to hold early elections within a year, hold new provincial elections, pass new federal court and federation council bills within six months, and return all internally displaced persons within six months. Sudani’s government program otherwise lacked deliberate vision and specific plans, often referencing the new government’s intent to carry on the implementation of existing plans. The 20 ministers approved on Thursday included four incumbent and former ministers, and at least two new ministers with close connections to militia groups. Earlier this week, the Coordination Framework had said that the ministries of defense and interior would be “excluded from muhasasa,” implying that other ministries would be decided based on Iraq’s tradition of ethno-sectarian apportionment. In other developments, on October 24, Iraq’s outgoing interior minister announced that a special task force arrested one of the main suspects in the embezzlement of nearly $2.5 billion from the tax commission’s accounts, while he was attempting to flee the country on a private jet. more…
• Explosion Kills Demining Workers In Basra – On October 24, two demining workers were killed and a third person was seriously injured when a mine exploded during demining operations in the al-Shalamcheh region, east of Basra. In other developments, on October 22, a mortar attack struck a village northeast of Baquba, wounding two civilians. Between October 22 – 26, attacks by ISIS militants in Diyala and Kirkuk killed three members of the security forces and injured at least two others. more…
• Large Funding Gaps Hinder Humanitarian Efforts; New Study Reveals Severe Economic Damage From Water Shortage – On October 23, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported a serious funding gap affecting the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). OCHA said that donors have provided $161 million in funding through the month of September, just 40% of the $400 million needed to assist nearly a million people with acute humanitarian needs. Meanwhile, UNICEF said that its response to ongoing needs of nearly 800,000 children in Iraq was severely underfunded, having secured only $12 million against a requirement of $52.2 million. The three most impacted sectors are health and nutrition, education, and water, sanitation and hygiene, being 74%, 80%, and 93% underfunded, respectively. On October 24, a new study by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) provided new insight into the impact of water scarcity on the economic conditions of farming communities in five Iraqi provinces. Four in ten respondents said they produced less grain, fruit, and vegetables in 2022 compared to 2021, a quarter said almost their entire wheat crops failed, and a quarter of were forced to depend on food assistance because of the poor harvest. more…
• Baghdad Court Annuls More KRG Oil Contracts; Saudi Arabia Eyes Billions In New Investments In Iraq – On October 25, an Iraqi court in Baghdad ruled to annul oil and gas contracts signed between the Kurdistan regional government and three foreign energy companies: Addax Petroleum, Gulf Keystone, and ShaMaran. On October 26, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said that his country’s public investments fund will establish five regional companies with the objective of investing in five regional markets, including Iraq. The companies will seek to make investments of up to $24 billion targeting various sectors, including infrastructure, agriculture, financial services, mineral industries, and communications. In other developments, on October 24, Iraq’s outgoing minister of communications said the country has completed a long-delayed project to establish international internet gateways designed to generate more revenue and prevent “smuggling” of internet bandwidth. more…

For more background on most of the institutions, key actors, political parties, and locations mentioned in our takeaways or in the stories that follow, see the ISHM Reference Guide.

Iraq’s Parliament Approves Sudani’s New Government

On October 20, the Coordination Framework issued a statement in which it said it authorized the prime minister designate, Mohammed Shya al-Sudani, to pick his ministers for the portfolios that represent the Framework’s share in government. Sudani would still have to select his ministers from lists of candidates to be presented by the factions that make up the Framework. Sudani would have the right to “propose other candidates,” should he find those presented by the factions unsuitable, the statement said. Additionally, the Framework’s statement said the ministries of defense and interior would be “excluded from muhasasa,” implying that other ministries would be decided based on Iraq’s tradition of  ethno-sectarian apportionment. 

On October 23, the first deputy speaker of parliament, Mohsin al-Mandalawi, said he will form a committee tasked with reviewing “all the decisions made by the caretaker government.” The committee, which Mandalawi will preside over, will look into all government decisions taken since October 10, 2021, the day when Iraq held its last parliamentary election, which marked the end of the previous parliamentary term. The committee will comprise lawmakers from the parliamentary committees on finance, investment, integrity, and legal affairs. 

On October 24, Iraq’s interior minister, Othman al-Ghanimi, announced that a special task force arrested Nour Zuheir Jasim one of the main suspects in the embezzlement of nearly $2.5 billion in funds from government accounts between 2021 and 2022. Jasmi was arrested at Baghdad airport, while he was attempting to flee the country using a private jet, according to Ghanimi. Meanwhile, an Iraqi judge involved in the investigation said that four other suspects in the embezzlement scheme had been arrested, including the head of the tax commission, who remains in custody; the other three were released on bail. The judge, who presides over the Karkh Appellate Court, added that “most of” the stolen money had been seized and remains in Iraq, without specifying the sums. On October 15, news emerged that IQD3.7 trillion was stolen from the Iraqi tax commission’s account at the state-owned Rafidain Bank. The funds were stolen over a period of almost a year, between September 9, 2021 and August 11, 2022 through 247 checks that were cashed by five private shell companies. 

On October 25, a criminal court in Diwaniyah sentenced Kifah al-Greiti, the convicted murderer of activist Thaer al-Tayeb, to death. The court had found Greiti, known to be a senior local member of Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia, guilty of murdering Tayeb by detonating a bomb under his vehicle on December 25, 2019. The prominent Diwaniyah activist was returning to his home province after participating in protests at Baghdad’s Tahrir square when the explosion happened. 

On October 27, the Iraqi parliament voted to approve the government program and a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shya al-Sudani. During the parliament session, held amid tight security precautions, lawmakers voted to approve 20 ministerial candidates presented by Sudnai, who is a former minister of human rights and labor and social affairs, and holds a degree in agricultural sciences. Parliament did not vote on three other portfolios–Environment, Housing and Reconstruction, and Culture, Tourism and Archeology–ostensibly pending further negotiations. In his government program, Sudani said he will work to hold early elections within a year, hold new provincial elections, pass new federal court and federation council bills within six months, and return all internally displaced persons within six months. Sudani’s government program otherwise lacked deliberate vision and specific plans, often referencing the new government’s intent to carry on the implementation of existing plans. The full text of Sudani’s government program can be found here.

The list of the ministers approved in today’s vote includes the following 20 names:

• Fuad Hussein (Foreign Affairs)
• Hayyan Abdul-Ghani (Oil)*
• Mohammed Tamim (Planning)*
• Tayf Sami (Finance)
• Thabit Mohammed (Defense)
• Abdul-Amir al-Shamari (Interior)
• Salih Mahdi al-Hasnawi (Health)
• Atheer al-Ghrayri (Trade)
• Razaq Mheibis (transportation)
• Awn Thyab (Water Resources)
• Abbas Jabr (Agriculture)
• Ahmed Mohammed (Youth and Sports)
• Ibrahim Yassin (Education)
• Khalid shwani (Justice) 
• Ziyad Ali (Electricity)
• Hayam Aboud (Communications)
• Ahmed al-Asadi (Labor and Social Affairs)
• Ivan Faeq (Migration and the Displaced)
• Khalid Battal (Industry and Minerals)
• Naeem al-Uboudi (Higher Education)

*The planning and oil ministers will also serve as deputies to the prime minister. 

Sources cited in this section include: INA, al-Hurra, Iraq Ultra, ISHM archives, Nas News, Shafaq.

Explosion Kills Demining Workers In Basra

On October 20, security sources in Diyala said that one police officer was killed and two were injured during clashes between security forces and ISIS militants in the al-Waqf region, northeast of Baquba. The clashes had erupted after security forces responded to reports of an explosion in the area. According to the sources, the militants had used explosives to demolish an empty house that belongs to a civilian they had previously failed to abduct.  

On October 21, security sources in Ninewa said that unidentified gunmen shot and killed a civilian who operates a private electricity generator in the al-Baaj district, south of Mosul.  

On October 22, security sources in Diyala said that four mortar rounds struck the village of al-Sawaid in the al-Abbara subdistrict, northeast of Baquba. The mortar attack wounded two civilians.  

On October 22, police sources in Baghdad said that unidentified gunmen assassinated Sheik Ali al-Ithari, a local official with the Badr organization in the al-Kamaliyah area of east Baghdad. Then on October 24, in the nearby al-Orfali neighborhood, unidentified gunmen shot and killed a civilian working for the Ministry of Health.

On October 23, security sources in Baghdad said that a person was killed and three others were injured in an attack with a hand grenade that targeted a house in the Bawb al-Sham area, northeast of the capital. 

On October 24, security sources in Basra said that two demining workers were killed and a third person was seriously injured when a mine exploded during demining operations in the al-Shalamcheh region, east of Basra. To the north, security sources in Ninewa said that a legacy improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in the al-Shora subdistrict, south of Mosul, wounding one civilian. 

On October 26, security sources in Kirkuk said that two Iraqi soldiers were killed when ISIS militants attacked troops from the army’s 8th division who were conducting security operations in the Wadi al-Shay region near the Daquq district.

Sources cited in this section include: NINA, al-Sumaria, Shafaq, al-Mirbad.

Large Funding Gaps Hinder Humanitarian Efforts; New Study Reveals Severe Economic Damage From Water Shortage

On October 23, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provided an update on the state of implementation and funding for the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), which points to a large gap between requirements and available resources. OCHA said that donors have provided $161 million in funding through the month of September, which represents just 40% of the $400 million needed to fully implement the 2022 HRP. The 2022 HRP had identified a population of 2.5 million who need assistance, of whom 961,000 are considered to be in acute need reaching “extreme or catastrophic levels.” The HRP aims to help 991,000 people from this population. These include 180,000 IDPs living in camps, 234,000 IDPs staying in places other than camps, and 577,000 returnees “with life-saving and life-sustaining assistance to meet their most critical humanitarian needs.” The update indicates the HRP reached all of that target population. 

On October 24, UNICEF said that its plans for responding to ongoing humanitarian needs in Iraq in 2022 were facing serious funding gaps. Specifically, the organization said that as of June, its 2022 response to people impacted by emergencies in Iraq, estimated to require $52.2 million in funding, was 78% underfunded, with a funding gap of $40.71 million. The three most impacted sectors are health and nutrition (74% underfunded), education (80% underfunded), and water, sanitation and hygiene (93% underfunded). In December of 2021, the UN organization noted that 2.5 million people continue to need humanitarian assistance in Iraq due to the lingering effects of conflict, displacement, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This population includes 1.1 million children, of whom 422,000 are considered to have “acute humanitarian needs.” UNICEF plans to include nearly 780,000 children in its 2022 response. The targets include helping nearly 450,000 people access clean water, facilitating health care provision to more than 735,000, and helping 447,000 kids receive education. 

On October 24, a new study by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) provided new insight into the impact of water scarcity on the economic conditions of farming communities in several Iraqi provinces. One in four households surveyed for the study said that more than 90% of their wheat crops had failed this season due to lack of water. Another quarter of wheat farmers who responded to the study said they were unable to make a profit at all this year. The interviews, which included 1,341 households, indicated that a quarter of these farming families were forced to depend on food assistance because of the poor harvest. Across the five provinces covered in the study (Anbar, Basra, Duhok, Kirkuk, and Ninewa), 40% of respondents said they have produced smaller amounts of grains, fruit, and vegetables in 2022 compared to 2021. The impact on livelihoods appears to also be impacting social cohesion. The interviews show that water shortage was also affecting access to clean drinking water. More than a quarter said they started buying drinking water, and another quarter said they had to reduce their water consumption.

On October 24, the Iraqi Ministry of Health reported that there were 186 new infections with COVID-19, zero new fatalities, and 33,840 people who received their vaccines during the period between October 16 – 23. Cumulatively, the ministry reported 2,461,247 infections, 25,358 deaths, and 11,232,329 vaccinations. The average number of new cases during the last 7-day reporting period slightly increased to 27 per day, up from 18 per day during the previous reporting period. 

Sources cited in this section include: Reliefweb, ISHM archives, Nas News.

Baghdad Court Annuls More KRG Oil Contracts; Saudi Arabia Eyes Billions In New Investments In Iraq

On October 24, Iraq’s outgoing minister of communications, Arkan al-Shaybani, said the country has completed a long-delayed project to establish international internet gateways. Shaybani said the new gateways will generate more revenue from the internet sector and help prevent “smuggling” operations of internet bandwidth.   

On October 25, an Iraqi court in Baghdad decided to annul three oil and gas contracts signed between the Kurdistan regional government and foreign energy companies, according to a post on Iraq Oil Report. The ruling reportedly concerns the contracts of Addax Petroleum, Gulf Keystone, and ShaMaran. This ruling follows a similar one in July, in which a Baghdad court had annulled four other contracts between the KRG and foreign companies. 

On October 26, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said that his country’s public investments fund will establish five regional companies with the objective of investing in five regional markets: Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan, Oman, and Iraq. The companies will seek to make investments of up to $24 billion targeting various sectors, including infrastructure, agriculture, financial services, mineral industries, and communications. 

Sources cited in this section include: Reliefweb, Asharq al-Awsat, INA, Iraq Oil Report, ISHM archives.

Derived from firsthand accounts and Iraq-based Arabic and Kurdish news sources, the Iraq Security and Humanitarian Monitor is a free publication of the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center.

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