Referring to the possibility of a wider regional war stemming from Iraq and Syria, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that he “would not predict or prejudge any such kind of scenario at this time”. The best he could do was strongly urge Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to reach a “more inclusive solution of this issue”.
His briefing today had an air of desperation, indicating that he is at as much of a loss as President Barack Obama on the next moves, although he has spoken to leaders in Turkey and Iran. He had nothing to say on al-Maliki’s requests for help to both Washington and Teheran. He could offer no signposts for Obama on whether to provide air support for Iraqi government troops fighting the jihadists, who are within miles of Baghdad after capturing Mosul and Tikrit.
Ban’s frustration is understandable. The world looks towards the UN whenever a humanitarian disaster occurs because of civil war and terrorism but Ban cannot achieve much without support from Washington, Beijing and Moscow. Agreement among those three is not forthcoming on any major crisis, including Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
All of these crises have also fallen in Obama’s lap; and extreme local jihadists similar to al Qaeda and ISIL are involved in all of them. In particular, Obama’s decisions on how to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will have central importance for the jihadist wars in Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
For the moment, Americans and Europeans worry about ISIL mainly because safe havens in Iraq and Syria may incubate terrorist attacks on Western soil, especially if the US helps al-Maliqi to fight it. But failure to roll back ISIL’s gains will also inspire the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan to acquire territories and then try to destabilize India, the region’s only stable democracy.
Modern terrorism is an anti-democratic ideological force that is approaching uncontrollable global proportions. It constitutes a ruthless drive for political control over territories and people by cynical warlords trying to accumulate power and wealth in the name of Islamic conservatism.
“I am deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Iraq, including the reports of mass summary executions by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). There is a real risk of further sectarian violence on a massive scale, within Iraq and beyond its borders,” Ban told journalists in Geneva.
“What is important at this time is that the Iraqi Government should have one State, whether they are Sunnis or Shi’ites or Kurds, they should be able to harmoniously live together, respecting and upholding human rights and values of the United Nations. That is the basic essence. When any part of this is lacking, it only creates a problem like we are seeing.”
Whatever the wider regional issues, the first priority must be to help the Iraqi Government to restore peace and stability in their country.
Meanwhile 9.3 million people are affected in Syria. That’s almost half of the total population, including 3.5 million who have very little access to humanitarian aid.
In the Central African Republic, almost a million people have fled their homes amid horrific violence against women, boys and girls. Armed groups have recruited thousands of children as soldiers or sex slaves.
In South Sudan, a third of the population – about 3.5 million people – are facing starvation and 1.5 million are displaced inside the country. About 93,000 have taken shelter in sites held by UN peacekeepers.