Zaidi orders sweeping shake-up of Iraq’s border crossings

BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has issued five directives to restructure operations at Iraq’s border crossings, including rotating all crossing staff and returning Interior Ministry personnel assigned to the Border Crossings Authority within 48 hours.

The directives, set out in an official document, focus on personnel changes, border security, customs inspections and intelligence coordination. All crossing employees are to be rotated “without exception” within 48 hours, with the Border Crossings Authority instructed to confirm the measure has been carried out. Al-Zaidi also ordered the Interior Ministry’s Border Forces Command to close all unofficial land and maritime routes and to rotate all brigade and unit commanders, and required all officers and staff assigned to the Border Crossings Authority to return to the Interior Ministry within the same timeframe.

Security and intelligence agencies, including the National Intelligence Service, Interior Ministry intelligence, customs police, explosives units, narcotics divisions and K9 teams, were instructed to activate their roles inside crossings and monitor the movement of prohibited goods and narcotics. They must submit periodic reports to the crossing director, who heads the intelligence cell at each point, and will bear legal responsibility for any security breach or illegal crossing. The fifth directive requires customs employees to inspect all incoming goods in detail and bars any truck from passing before its cargo has been fully examined.

The orders come a day after Baghdad and Erbil signed a final agreement to implement the ASYCUDA customs automation system and a unified agricultural calendar, part of broader efforts to coordinate customs procedures between the federal government and the Kurdistan Region. Finance Minister Falih al-Sari has said the reforms aim to increase non-oil revenues, strengthen oversight of goods movement, reduce customs evasion and standardize procedures across Iraq.