The UAE and Germany have set up a fund aimed at rebuilding parts of Iraq recaptured from ISIL militants, The National has reported.
The fund will be administered by the United Nations and used to restore basic infrastructure, services and governance to Iraq after militants have been driven out.
General John Allen, special US presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, reportedly told the 12th US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, that despite recent setbacks the anti-ISIL coalition has created “new lines of activity” to battle the militants.
The new fund, now formalised, is crucial, added a senior US state department official. “How do you push resources into those areas cleared of ISIL? How do you take care of people? How do you bring services back?
“This has been a real problem because the Iraqis are not able to access capital markets. They remain fairly cash-poor and they’re not able to flood resources quickly to areas.”
It is not yet known how big the fund will be. Coalition partners, including the US, had given significant sums to rebuild the country, but it was thought the new fund should be an Arab initiative, with Western support, as exclusively Western-led efforts to rebuild Iraq have lost legitimacy, the newspaper reported.
Allen also said discussions were ongoing among coalition partners to set up more centres to counter ISIL propaganda aimed at recruiting new supporters from across the world.
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