Residents of Mount Shingal camps, housing Ezidi families which fled their home areas in the western Ninewa district after Islamic State (IS) fighters swept through Shingal in August 2014 have called on the local administration of Ninewa to facilitate their return.
Ninewa governor Mansour al-Mar’eed on Saturday September 7, visited Mount Shingal camp and met with representatives of the camp and Shingal tribesmen.
Khalaf Saeed, who attended the meeting, told KirkukNow that the Ezidi representatives “stressed the need to speed up the clearing process in their explosive-littered areas and urged for government-backed forces to stay in Shingal to protect their community.”
Saeed voiced his concern about the lack of essential services provided to Mount Shingal camps compared to other camps, including drinking water and electricity.
In August 2014, thousands of Ezidis fled for safety to the top of Mount Shingal; many of them decided to stay in two camps set up there.
About 2,000 families are housed in Mount Shingal camp, while another one thousand families are sheltered in Sardasht camp.
Khudeda Choki, Shingal’s Sinune sub-district commissioner said the governor’s visit came “under the pressure of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) after receiving reports about the situation in the district.”
The local official said Shingal representatives called on the governor to hand the security dossier of the district to “the forces which defended Shingal during the IS attacks.”
Shingal (120 km west of Ninewa) is predominantly-populated by the Ezidi community. The district was overrun by IS militants on August 3, 2014 and was recaptured by Iraqi forces on November 13, 2015.
