French President shares Iraqi Prime Minister’s call for dialogue
The French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The French President, Emmanuel Macron, expressed on Tuesday his concern regarding the situation in Iraq, stating that he shares the Iraqi Prime Minister’s call for dialogue and consultation.
“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Iraq. Calm and restraint must prevail. I share the Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s call for dialogue and consultation in response to the aspirations of the Iraqis,” Macron wrote in a tweet in Arabic.
Al-Kadhimi called for an Iraqi national dialogue that includes representatives from all parties to develop a road map for a solution, calling on Iraqi protesters to evacuate state institutions and abide by public order.
The Sadrist movement refuses the nomination of Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani to head the government, and his supporters have been camping at the parliament headquarters since Saturday.
Since the legislative elections in October 2021, Iraq has been suffering from political paralysis after months of negotiations between the main parties failed to choose a new president or a new prime minister.
Supporters of the Shiite leader, Muqtada Al-Sadr, began a sit-in in the Iraqi Parliament on Saturday, and thousands of his political opponents demonstrated in Baghdad on Monday, an expression of the division that is tearing the country.
Al-Kadhimi, whose caretaker government is in charge, said in a televised speech on Saturday that political blocs must negotiate and reach an understanding for the sake of Iraq and the Iraqis.