UNITED NATIONS, August 8 (RIA Novosti) - With more of Iraq taken over by the Islamic State militants, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL), the United Nations Security Council on Thursday issued a press statement condemning the terrorists attacks on Iraqi cities and villages.
At an emergency meeting, the UN Security Council members expressed “their deep outrage about the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis — many of them from vulnerable minority communities, especially Yazidis and Christians — displaced by ISIL’s attacks and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.”
Earlier on Thursday, UN Deputy Special Representative in Iraq Gyorgy Busztin said that “many are in locations that are inaccessible, including those who have been trapped for over five days on Jabal Sinjar mountain - women, children, aged people and people with disabilities and those in need of medical assistance.”
Amid reports of airdrops of aid, the Security Council said that its members “welcome the Government of Iraq’s efforts, in association with local and regional authorities and in cooperation with the United Nations, to address the urgent humanitarian needs of those displaced by the current conflict and to combat the terrorist threat facing all Iraqis, and call for an intensification of these efforts.”
On the political front, the Security Council statement urged all entities “to overcome divisions and work together in an inclusive and urgent political process to strengthen Iraq’s national unity, sovereignty and independence and for Iraq’s leaders to engage, as quickly as possible, to form a Government that represents all segments of the Iraqi population and that contributes to finding a viable and sustainable solution to the country’s current challenges.”
Beyond Thursday's Security Council press statement, a draft resolution on Iraq is being negotiated.
