SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi President Barham Salih abruptly cancelled his planned attendance at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow on Tuesday, a close aide told AFP, citing security situation at home.
Iraq is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change and Salih had been due to address the summit on Tuesday.
The aide told AFP that Salih had decided to cancel “at the last minute in light of security developments in Diyala and Kirkuk, and the political crisis linked to the recent parliamentary election”.
Islamic State (ISIS) militants attacked a mainly Shia village in ethnically and confessionally mixed Diyala province last week, killing 15 civilians.
In reprisal, villagers attacked a neighboring Sunni village, killing 11 people.
In Kirkuk province, two members of the Peshmerga forces were killed in a separate attack by ISIS militants on Saturday.
Ahead of the U.N. summit, Salih had spoken out in favor of tough goals to limit climate change, penning an opinion piece in Monday’s edition of the Financial Times in which he said they should be a national priority.
