15yrs of struggle seeking solutions in KICRI

CAIRO - 12 February 2018: Restoring the humanity that was stolen and shattered by the raging war against terrorism and factional disputes in Iraq, is the most important goal of the Kuwaiti International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI)

The conference kicked off on Monday, February 21 under the auspices of Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and with the participation of 70 humanitarian organization, the representatives of 1,850 global companies and the officials of 70 countries worldwide.


Kuwait's International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI) that kicked off on Monday, February 21 – Press photo

The three-day conference aims to fix the damage caused by war and disputes, according to an official statements. All of the conference attendees are trying to reach agreements to re-construct destroyed houses, infrastructure, roads, hospitals, schools and public facilities.

About $100 billion is the estimated donation needed for Iraq to be revived and rebuild.

Egypt’s participation

Being threatened by terrorism is not something Egypt has not experienced. Egyptian Presidential Assistant For National and Strategic Projects Ibrahim Mahlab said that Egypt's participation in KICRI came out of state’s similar experiences. “We will stand with Iraq and help it with all the knowledge and experience we have gained during the past four years,” Mahlab told MENA in an interview on Monday.


Kuwait's International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI) that kicked off on Monday, February 21 – Press photo

He added that Egypt's participation in KICRI reflects its pioneering role at the Arab, regional and international levels. Mahlab affirmed that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi made directives on the necessity of standing by Iraq in order for it to benifit from Egypt's pioneering expertise in the field of reconstruction and help Baghdad in rebuilding areas damaged by terrorists.

He assured that Egypt is keen on extending its unique expertise in the quick completion of national projects in to Iraq, especially because the war-torn country needs a lot of logistic services as soon as possible like projects in the fields of energy, hospitals and schools, to pave the way for the return of thousands of displaced people.

Commenting on Egyptian-Kuwaiti relations, Mahlab said they are "deeply rooted and historic", noting that Kuwait hosts thousands of Egyptians working in the various professions. He also noted that Kuwait's hosting KICRI emanated from its humanitarian role, describing Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir as "a humanitarian leader."

The conference kicked off with a meeting between high-level experts and a wide range of international figures. It will include a number of sessions and leaders from around the world that will talk about their humanitarian experiences.

Director General of the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development Abdel Wahab Badr, Secretary General of the Iraqi Cabinet Mahdi al-Alaaq and Head of the Iraq Fund for the Reconstruction of Damaged Areas from Terrorism Mostafa al-Heiti are in attendance at the conference.

Iraq’s long history of struggling

Since 2003, when the U.S. announced its invasion of the Middle-Eastern country due to claims of the existance of nuclear weapons, everything was destroyed.

It is hard to find real and accurate statistics regarding the number of civilians killed inside Iraq since the invasion because of the lack of official statistics released by Iraqi entities; however, according to statistics published on United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) website, 110,479 were killed during the period of 2003 to 2010.

After the withdrawal of the American troops from Iraq in 2011, Iraq was still full of rebels from all parties, including Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. The troops and militia affiliated with the Sunnis claimed that the government then lead by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was ignoring them and their demands, and that they were marginalized within the society. A long struggle between the Sunnis and the other parties along with the government continued until 2014.

In April 2014, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant known also as (Da’esh or IS) began to take over several governorates inside Iraq and Syria including Tikrit, Fallujah and Mosul. According to the United Nations, war crimes were committed and historic places were destroyed.

Again, According to UNAMI about 357,754 civilians were killed since November 2012 to January 2018.

IRAQ Mission Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) affiliated with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that about 2,615,988 persons (435,998 families) were internally displaced from January 2014 to 31 December 2017. They were dispersed across 97 districts and 3,711 locations in Iraq.


Photo courtesy of IRAQ Mission Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) affiliated with International Organization for Migration (IOM)




Photo courtesy of IRAQ Mission Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) affiliated with International Organization for Migration (IOM)


In February 2017, during a two-day International Coordination Conference on the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage in Liberated Areas of Iraq at the UNESCO headquarters, Iraq’s Vice-Minister of Culture for Antiquities and Tourism Affairs Qais Rasheed said that violent extremists (Da’esh) have wreaked severe damage to archaeological sites of world importance, destroying up to 70 percent of Nineveh and 80 percent of Nimrud. “They systematically dug tunnels in Mosul and other heritage sites in search for antiquities to sell on the Internet and black market,” he added. “The damage was even greater than had been feared,” Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, said.

Defeating Da’esh

After a long struggle, and with the aid of the American-led military intervention in Iraq known as the (International Coalition), The Iraqi government announced defeating Dae’sh three years later, specifically on December 2017.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in a televised speech thanked all of those who participated in the Iraqi war including Iranian Shia Marja' (Senior cleric) in Iraq Ali al-Sistani for issuing his known fatwa (Islamic rule) with the religious obligation of fighting against Da’esh.

The KICRI agenda includes several meetings between high-level officials from different 70 countries. The attending donors include the European Union, Kuwait, the United Nations and the World Bank.