Two days after the double Kabul airport bombing, French President Emmanuel Macron will go to Iraq this weekend to participate in a regional summit, to support the stabilization of the country and recall the role that Paris wants to keep. in the region, especially in the fight against Daesh.

Over the course of two busy days, he will meet Iraqi leaders in Baghdad and participate in a summit bringing together neighboring countries - Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia.

France is the "co-organizer", according to the Elysee.

Daesh resurgence

The French president, who visited Iraq briefly on September 2, 2020, wants "to show his support for Iraq's pivotal role, for the fight against terrorism and for the development of the country, and to help reduce tensions" , explains the presidency. “As in the Sahel, it is about our neighborhood and our national security. France is keen to continue this fight in Iraq and elsewhere to avoid the ever possible resurgence of Daesh ”, underlined an adviser. Paris provides Iraq with military support, particularly air support, with an average of 600 men on site.

At the Baghdad summit, the French head of state, the only extra-regional actor, will meet his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

The Turkish and Iranian presidents as well as the King of Saudi Arabia have been invited but could send representatives.

To mediate is a challenge for Iraq, where Iran exercises its stranglehold and where the state still seems powerless to meet the basic needs of the population.

But the presence of Saudi and Iranian rivals would already be an event.

Afghanistan at the heart of the discussions

In his bilateral talks, Emmanuel Macron will obviously address the situation in Afghanistan, but also the situation of French jihadists detained in Iraq or the issue of women's rights. On Sunday, the French president will travel to the autonomous region of Kurdistan, to Erbil, its capital, then to Mosul, a city devastated after being in the hands of Daesh for three years. In Mosul, he will interact with students as well as "influencers", explains the Elysee, then show his support for Eastern Christians by visiting the Church of Our Lady of the Hour. He will also visit the reconstruction site of the Sunni al-Nouri mosque, destroyed by Daesh.

In Ebril, with the authorities of Iraqi Kurdistan, Emmanuel Macron "will recall the strength of France's support in the fight against terrorism".

He will also meet the historical Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, for a tribute to the peshmerga.

His delegation included the Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, an icon of the Yazidi sex slaves of the jihadists, and the essayist Caroline Fourest, feminist and secular activist.

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