The accord, titled “Community Harmony in Northern Shingal,” consists of 11 points that focus on renouncing violence and extremism, supporting state institutions in administering the affairs of the town, and calling on Iraqi authorities and the international community to address security concerns and expedite compensating the families of Islamic State (ISIS) victims.
The document was prepared by the United States Institute of Peace in cooperation with the local al-Tahreer Association for Development. The Shingal area is where ISIS committed genocide against the Yazidi minority when it seized control of Nineveh province in 2014. Thousands fled their homes as the militants systematically killed men and older women, and enslaved younger women and children. More than 5,000 Yazidis were killed in the genocide.
Ten years on, much of the Yazidi community remains displaced, reconstruction has been slow in Shingal where there is still insecurity, and the victims of ISIS are still waiting for justice.
Maysar Murad Qasim, chieftain of Hardan, a Yazidi village in Shingal, said that the tribal leaders who signed onto the accord do not represent the community or families of ISIS victims, adding that no one from the villages and areas most affected by the group’s reign of terror were present at the signing of the document.
“We have no problems with anyone. We just want the ISIS members who are still here to be put on trial and get the punishment they deserve,” Qasim told Rudaw English on Saturday evening.
The local chieftain announced that families of the victims and other members of the community will hold demonstrations in Hardan on Sunday morning to protest the accord, which he said ignores the basic demands of the community. The village is one of the disputed areas in Nineveh.
Among their demands, Qasim said they want the government to finish exhuming mass graves of ISIS victims and to speed up identifying the remains that have been recovered so that families can finally lay them to rest.
“Our bodies have been in Baghdad for two years, but the forensics have only identified 16 of them… The families of the victims have their eyes on this process. They want to know where their loved ones are,” Qasim said.
Murad Ismael, a Yazidi activist, also criticized the accord. He said it failed to acknowledge the Yazidi genocide and stressed that the community will not accept reconciliation as a substitute for justice.
“While it is true we don’t have the military means to get justice as others do, we will not close this page as if nothing happened. If we fail as a generation to get justice for our cause, we will pass it to our children so they can carry on,” Ismael wrote in a Facebook post.
Shingal was liberated from ISIS in late 2015, but lack of reconstruction, political disputes, and ongoing insecurity have prevented most families from returning to their homes.
The newly-appointed Nineveh governor Abdulqadir al-Dakhil also signed the accord on Saturday, hailing “a historic day in Nineveh.”
“We pledge as a local government by signing this accord that we will provide true support to the area,” said Dakhil.
“We are eagerly anticipating the return of Yazidis to Shingal to play a major role in creating the new glory of Nineveh,” said the governor, adding “Ten years after the liberation, the Yazidis are still paying a hefty price by residing in camps and it is our duty to return them to Shingal strengthened and honored.”
There is now a myriad of armed forces in Shingal with various allegiances, including the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They gained footholds in Shingal after ousting ISIS.
Dakhil told Rudaw’s Adla Bakir that Shingal continues to be destabilized by political issues and security concerns, but stressed that there are promising initiatives from the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to resolve the issues, including efforts to appoint a head of the administrative unit, which he referred to as “the real key” to addressing the town’s problems.
Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement in 2020 to normalize the situation in Shingal, but the deal has yet to be implemented.
The agreement includes the withdrawal of all PKK-affiliated forces from the city. Despite both the KRG and the Iraqi government calling on all armed groups to leave Shingal on several occasions, the agreement has been rejected by the PKK and its proxies.
