I/II. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/un-declares-iraq-emergency-amid-clashes-201481413510196963.html UN declares Iraq emergency amid clashes
*Declaration of emergency will bring in more funds and aid for those displaced by fighting in the country. * Last updated: 14 Aug 2014 20:10 The United Nations has declared its highest level of emergency in Iraq as fresh clashes between government troops and Sunni rebels killed four children west of Baghdad. Fighting erupted early on Thursday in the rebel-held city of Fallujah, about 65km west of Baghdad. The clashes on the city's northern outskirts killed four children, along with a woman and at least 10 fighters, said Fallujah hospital director Ahmed Shami. Fallujah has been in the hands of the Islamic State since early January, when the group seized much of Western Anbar province along with parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi. The fighting came as the UN declared the situation in Iraq a "Level 3 Emergency" - a development that will trigger additional goods, funds and assets to respond to the needs of the displaced, said UN special representative Nickolay Mladenov, pointing to the "scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe." The Security Council also said it was backing a newly nominated premier-designate in the hope that he can swiftly form an "inclusive government'' that could counter the threat from rebels, which has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the US troop withdrawal in 2011. Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled the Islamic State group's advance to take refuge in the remote desert Sinjar mountain range. The US and Iraqi military have dropped food and water supplies, and in recent days Kurds from neighbouring Syria battled to open a corridor to the mountain, allowing some 45,000 to escape. On Thursday, President Barack Obama said the US had broken the siege on Sinjar Mountain, but that airstrikes would continue. Speaking at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, Obama said US operations helped thousands of civilians flee down the mountain, and that it was unlikely that more airdrops of food and water would be needed. The UN said it would provide increased support to those who had escaped Sinjar and to 400,000 other Iraqis who had fled since June to the Kurdish province of Dahuk. Others have fled to other parts of the Kurdish region or further south. A total of 15 million have been displaced by the fighting since the rebels captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, in June and quickly swept over other parts of the country. The United States has been carrying out airstrikes in recent days against Islamic State fighters, helping fend back their advance on Kurdish regions. II. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/maliki-steps-down-as-iraqi-prime-minister-2014814195927824856.html Maliki gives up Iraq PM job to rival Nouri al-Maliki ends bid to hold on to power and endorses Haider al-Abadi's appointment as his successor. Last updated: 15 Aug 2014 03:38 Nouri al-Maliki has finally bowed to pressure within Iraq and beyond and stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash the Islamic State group. "I announce before you today, to ease the movement of the political process and the formation of the new government, the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of brother Dr Haider al-Abadi," Maliki said in his Thursday address, adding that he had made the decision to preserve the country's unity. The announcement came days after he refused to stand down and threatened to challenge the Iraqialjazeera/aal president's decision to appoint Abadi as his successor. "Maliki will withdraw the complaint against the president and will back the prime minister designate," Ali Mussawi, Maliki's spokesman, told the AFP news agency, referring to a lawsuit the outgoing prime minister had vowed to file. Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Erbil, said Maliki's move was influenced by the statement of Iraq's most senior Shia religious leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. "When all the odds were stacked against him, when the US and Iran as well as European countries and almost every political faction in Iraq was telling him that he had to go, he still persisted on hanging on," Arraf said. "The thing that really clinched it though was that the statements by Iraq's top Shia religious authority, the Marjaya, specifically the Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - absolutely revered by Iraqi Shias - who indicated in a very rare statement that he thought it would be better for the country if Maliki did indeed step aside." Maliki's decision was likely to please Iraq's Sunni minority, which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein's iron rule but was sidelined by Maliki, a relative unknown when he came to power in 2006 with US backing. Maliki had resisted months of pressure to step down from Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shia, Shia regional power Iran and the United States. He had insisted on his right to form a new government based on the results of a parliamentary election in late April. * US praises move * Tehran and Washington, the two main foreign power brokers in Iraq, came out in support of Abadi, and he was dealt another major blow when the office of Iraq's top Shia religious leader released a letter in which he called for Maliki to go. "Today, Iraqis took another major step forward in uniting their country," US national security adviser Susan Rice said in a statement praising Maliki after his announcement. "We commend Prime Minister Maliki for his decision to support Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi in his efforts to form a new government in line with the Iraqi constitution." Rice said the US government, which had long lost patience with Maliki, had heard from a number of leaders in Iraq who had pledged their support to Abadi. She noted expressions of support from other countries as well. "These are encouraging developments that we hope can set Iraq on a new path and unite its people against the threat presented by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," Rice said. "The United States remains committed to a strong partnership with Iraq and the Iraqi people." -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. 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