Monday 11 August 2014 16.38 European Union envoys are to meet tomorrow for an emergency meeting over the deepening crisis in Iraq, an EU diplomatic source said.
The source said that envoys from the EU's member states would meet in Brussels in order "to coordinate as well as possible" a response to the latest advances by Islamist militants across Iraq.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has called on the EU to "mobilise" to respond to appeals from Iraq's Kurds for arms to fight Islamic State jihadists.
In a letter to EU foreign affairs representative Catherine Ashton, Mr Fabius said: "It is crucial that the European Union mobilises from today to respond to this appeal for help."
Meanwhile, Iraq's main Shia coalition has nominated the deputy speaker of parliament, Haider al-Abadi to become prime minister.
The move is likely to deepen political tension at a time when the country needs a united front against a raging Sunni insurgency.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has indicated he will not cave in to pressure to drop a bid for a third term, with his allies claiming that Mr Abadi has no legitimacy.
Mr Abadi has said all Iraqis must cooperate against the "barbaric" campaign by IS militants.
The United States is exploring options to evacuate thousands of Iraqi civilians trapped on a barren mountain in northern Iraq by Islamic militants, after four nights of humanitarian relief air drops.
The air drops appear to have provided urgently needed aid.
However, the harsh conditions of the Sinjar mountain range in mid-summer have taken scores of lives among Iraq's Yazidi minority, who are threatened by Islamic State militants.
Proposals for a risky mission to save the group underscore the limits of the air drops, ordered last week by US President Barack Obama.
"We're reviewing options for removing the remaining civilians off the mountain," deputy US national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.
"Kurdish forces are helping, and we're talking to the [United Nations] and other international partners about how to bring them to a safe space."
The UN mission in Iraq has also said it is preparing a humanitarian corridor to permit the Yazidis to flee to safety.
The group are followers of an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism.
They are viewed as "devil worshippers" by the Sunni militants of Islamic State who tell them to convert to Islam or face death.
More than 30,000 Yazidis, mainly from Sinjar, have already crossed into an area of northern Iraq controlled by Kurdish security forces.
They arrived following a week-long journey that took them through Syria after they left the mountain retreat that had become a graveyard for many, according to Yazidis and UN officials.
Yet any mission to evacuate the remaining Yazidis from the mountain is likely to be perilous, and could test Mr Obama's pledge to limit US involvement in Iraq's latest chaos.
Last night, four US cargo aircraft dropped food and water in the latest delivery, the US military's Central Command said in a statement.
US forces have dropped more than 74,000 meals and more than 15,000 gallons of fresh drinking water so far to those trapped on the arid mountain.
Islamic State militants have seized large swathes of northern Iraq since June, breaking out of their original operating areas in nearby Syria.
Mr Rhodes said the air drops have been effective and noted that US aircraft have also attacked Islamic State fighters who have laid siege to Sinjar mountain.
Meanwhile, NATO has said it would take all steps necessary to defend alliance member Turkey if it were threatened by Islamic State fighters.
"We are very much concerned about the activities of the so-called Islamic State, which is a bunch of terrorists, and it is of utmost importance to stop their advance," said NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
"If any of our allies, and in this case of course particularly Turkey, were to be threatened from any source of threat, we won't hesitate to take all steps necessary to ensure effective defence of Turkey or any other ally."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
EU envoys to meet to discuss Iraq
Dengan url
http://newsdeadlineup.blogspot.com/2014/08/eu-envoys-to-meet-to-discuss-iraq.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
EU envoys to meet to discuss Iraq
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
EU envoys to meet to discuss Iraq
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar