SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The border crossings in the Kurdistan Region are not under control of Iraqi government, an official said on Sunday (February 28).
Director of communications at Iraq’s border ports authority Ala Qaisy said joint security forces had controlled the border crossings in the other Iraqi provinces after Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered to take control of them.
“The step was to provide a protective environment for all employees at the border crossings,” Qaisy told reporters.
“The border crossings in the Kurdistan Region are not under the control of the central government,” he said.
In November, Kadhimi ordered the Iraqi Joint Operations Command to close unofficial border crossings in the country.
Head of Iraqi border ports authority Omer al-Waeli said last month that the federal government would take control of the border points in the Kurdistan Region in the near future.
“Legal measures to control the Kurdistan Region’s border crossings will be implemented in the near future,” Waeli said
He added that officials had discussed the closure of unofficial border crossings in the Region with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
General director of customs in the Kurdistan Region Samal Abdulrahman said in November that the Region had nine border crossings, four of which are international. The rest are non-international.
The KRG has recognized the five non-international border crossings, but the federal government has yet to do so despite sending teams to investigate and check on them, according to the official.
