MESOP NEWS LATEST : Vice President Mike Pence tells Barzani U.S. support ‘unified Iraq’

20 Febr 2017 – MESOP  – SULAIMANI,— U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, during a meeting with Massoud Barzani on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, expressed his country’s support for a “unified, federal and democratic Iraq.”

The Vice President office said in a statement released on Saturday that Pence “encouraged close cooperation between the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG].”

In a brief meeting, “The leaders underscored the urgency of continued progress in the fight against Islamic State IS and cooperation to liberate Mosul,” the statement added.Massoud Barzani, whose term as Kurdistan President ended on August 20, 2015 but refused to step down and remains unofficially in office, has been accused of using the self-determination issue as means to stay in power and monopoly it.Since October 2015 the Kurdistan parliament has been in recess after parliament speaker Yusuf Mohammad Sadiq was prevented by the ruling KDP party forces from entering Erbil city on October 12, 2015 and Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani has removed four members of his cabinet from the Change Movement and replaced them with KDP politicians.

Iraqi Kurds say “whenever Massoud Barzani appears on TV to talk about independence, we all laugh. We know he’s trying to distract us from some crisis or corruption scandal. But nobody buys it anymore.”

Barzani and his KDP accused of a monopoly all government’s positions in Erbil.The 53rd Munich Security Conference began on Friday with the participation of top security and defense officials from around the world.

The conference ended on Sunday following three days in Munich.On the same day, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the offensive to dislodge IS from the western side of Mosul with troops beginning movements towards the west of the city. Iraqi forces are expecting a tougher fight in the west, where narrow streets and a concentrated civilian population is expected to aid the jihadists, and slow Iraqi forces’ progress.

An estimated 6000 American service members are currently stationed in Iraq. www.mesop.de