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Iraq's Parliament passed an much-anticipated amendment to the law structuring Iraq's Federal Supreme Court. Given the court's role in Iraq's electoral process, the new legislation was necessary for the government to move forward with plans to hold national elections this October. Zaid al-Ali, an expert in Iraqi constitutional law, offered helpful analysis of the new amendments and the political wrangling that led up to their passage. "The amendment provides that all existing members [of the court] are to be sent to retirement after new members are chosen," Ali writes. The new members are supposed to be nominated by "an ad hoc committee made up of the current head of the Supreme Court, the head of the Judicial Council, the public prosecutor, the head of the judicial oversight body, in cooperation with the KRG judicial council," Ali says, although he notes that the text of the law is confusing about key elements of the selection process. "I'm not sure what parliamentarians think they were voting for," Ali says, "but this isn't clear." Passage of the law also now opens up the legislative calendar, enabling the Parliament to focus on passage of the national budget. As this newsletter goes to print, MPs are telling Iraq Oil Report they are planning to convene for a vote on the 2021 national budget law at 10 a.m. Saturday. If and when there is a vote, Iraq Oil Report will have a story; keep your eyes out.

The national budget is the first step toward defining a more sustainable framework for relations between the federal government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), according to Lahur Talabany. Talabany is the co-president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main parties ruling the KRG, and a strong proponent of finding a workable framework for a strong relationship with Baghdad. In an interview with Iraq Oil Report this week, Talabany said the passage of a 2021 budget law could lead to further negotiations on a number of fronts, including a framework for the KRG oil sector to operate within the structure of a prospective Iraqi National Oil Company. He also discussed a range of issues related to economic development and security dynamics along Kurdistan's southern border. Read the full interview on Iraq Oil Report.

Ninewa province has suffered on multiple fronts in recent years. Not only did the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) militant group inflict violence and depravity on millions of residents during its occupation, but much of the province was destroyed in the ensuing war — and in the aftermath, many areas are now occupied by politicized paramilitary groups. It is also geographically sensitive, containing a long and porous border with Syria and a large band of territory subject to disputes between the KRG and federal government. Iraq Oil Report interviewed Najim al-Jibouri, the governor of Ninewa, in Mosul, shortly before the Pope's visit to the city earlier this month. Reconstruction efforts can be seen throughout Mosul, with a tangle of new roads and several new bridges linking the banks of the Tigris. But the level of damage remains significant, Jibouri says, especially in rural areas — and in a time of tough financial constraints, Ninewa is low on the list of priorities for the federal government in Baghdad. At the same time, the province has relatively little power to allocate money and attract the kind of investment it needs. For more on the state of Iraq's second-largest city — and the oil resources in the surrounding territory — read the full interview on Iraq Oil Report.

How To Transport Personnel in a Pandemic

A message from FronteraSky:

IOCs and oil service companies need smart, integrated transportation and logistics support now more than ever. FronteraSky has years of experience operating in Iraq, offering a full range of transportation services:

• immigration services;
• work permits, blood tests, security clearances;
• arranging private air transport and charter flights;
• managing every step of covid-19 compliance, from safe
  quarantine to testing;
• medical evacuations.

Whether you are flying to Baghdad, Erbil, Basra, or military installations in Iraq, FronteraSky will make transportation efficient, comfortable, and safe. To learn more about how they can help you, e-mail them at info@fronterasky.com.

And to hear directly from FronteraSky President Carlos Barbosa, read his interview with Iraq Oil Report.

National News

Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are becoming increasingly fractured. Reporting for Middle East Eye, Saudad al-Salhy writes that these divisions are one factor contributing to an uptick in attacks against U.S. forces in the country. A specialist in Iranian affairs told the author that "disagreements inside Iran have been reflected [in] the performance of these factions and forces in Iraq." Iran's posture toward Iraq is in relative disarray largely because of the absence of Gen. Qassim Soleimani, who led the IRGC's Quds Force until his assassination in a U.S. drone strike just over a year ago, leaving very big shoes to fill. Soleimani's successor, Esmail Qaani, is not as powerful, according to Salhy; armed factions in Iraq have been "slipping" from his control in recent months, "prompting Khamenei to encourage the Beit Rahbari agency to intervene," a source told the author.

Iran's internal disagreements have been on public display in Iraq. Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi, condemned rocket attacks on the U.S. embassy compound in late February, in an interview with Rudaw Arabic TV: "I will say it clearly: I do not support attacks or violations of any kind against diplomatic missions of any country in Iraq. We in the Islamic Republic completely oppose this and condemn it. Diplomatic missions must be given the necessary security and must be respected. It doesn't matter whether it's the American embassy or some other country's." Masjedi also said that "the Islamic Republic of Iran wants to achieve complete stability in Iraq. In our opinion, whatever weakens or violates Iraq’s security is unacceptable, and we won’t support it." Masjedi’s words could be meant as a warning to Shia armed groups against launching rogue attacks. But, coming as they did in an interview to a non-Shia outlet, they may also be interpreted as obfuscation, part of a long pattern of Iranian mixed messaging in which official government representatives express devotion to international norms, while IRGC-linked figures publicly flout them.

Iraqis are sick of identity politics. More than 90 percent of Iraqis want to see an end to the ethno-sectarian power-sharing system that has structured Iraqi politics since 2003, according to a recent opinion poll. Writing for the Washington Institute, Dr. Munqith Dagher says the poll shows that all segments of Iraqi society believe the current system doesn’t serve them, even those commonly perceived to be the winners of the post-2003 order. The poll results reflect the sentiments behind anti-government demonstrations in 2019, writes Dagher, as well as an ongoing lack of trust in the electoral process, despite the passage of a new electoral law. Dagher writes that Iraqis do not believe elections will bring about a better system. According to the poll, 70 percent of Iraqis believe Iraq’s youth do not have a good future and more than third want to emigrate.

This week marks the 23rd anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons attack on the town of Halabja, which killed some 5,000 people and injured 10,000 more. Kurdistan 24’s Wladimir van Wilgenburg reports on the recent death of one survivor of the attack, Mohamad Aziz Halabjayi, in Nashville this week. Halabjayi was honored by Kurdish diaspora groups. The KRG’s representative in Washington, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, paid tribute to Halabjayi on Twitter, writing that he had suffered lung damage all of his life as a result of the attack. Kurdish activist Remziya Suleyman wrote that that Halabjayi "made it a mission in his life that no matter where he was or what conversation he was having, to bring up Halabja and the Kurdish cause."

One of Iraq's last remaining Jewish citizens died this week. Dr. Dhafer Fuad Eliyahu, 60, was known as the "doctor of the poor" because of his reputation for treating patients who could not afford to pay. He refused to leave Iraq despite worsening sectarian violence following the U.S. invasion in 2003. Reporting for Rudaw, Holly Johnston writes that "Eliyahu was a humble and quiet man, a well-respected orthopedist at [Baghdad's] al-Wasiti hospital." Up until the mid-20th century, Baghdad was an important center of Jewish life and home to a number of renowned Jewish hospitals. A wave of anti-Jewish violence in the 1940s led to the flight of most of Iraq’s vibrant Jewish community. Doctors across Iraq are mourning his loss, writes Johnston. A friend of Eliyahu’s said that his death "is an immense blow to administrating the affairs of the community's remaining assets, including cemeteries, shrines, synagogues, and legacies."

Oil Companies Face New Regulatory Hurdles

A message from New Frontiers:

International oil companies, oil service companies, and other contractors in Iraq face a major new compliance challenge. The oil sector has long enjoyed a de facto exemption from some Iraqi regulations, including Ministry of Labor requirements associated with social security and work permits. But in September 2020, the government started enforcing the rules on foreign oil contractors. If they don't comply, companies risk severe consequences — including payment delays, visa problems, and exclusion from tenders.

To learn more about these latest challenges, Iraq Oil Report spoke with Steve Rahola and Mustafa al-Janabi, two key leaders of New Frontiers Business Consulting. For more than a decade, New Frontiers — which is also known by its Kurdish-language name, Asteki Nwe — has been on the ground navigating Iraq's bureaucracy, gaining the experience and relationships necessary to help foreign companies. Read the full interview here.

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