KDP: removing irregular armed factions is essential for the success of Sinjar agreement
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Shafaq News / Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Nineveh said today, Sunday, that Sinjar agreement success is conditioned upon removing all "illegal" armed factions.
The head of KDP Bloc in Nineveh Council, Barakat Shamo, told Shafaq News agency, "All illegal armed factions and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) forces must leave the lands of Sinjar and respect the official agreement between Baghdad and Erbil regarding restoring stability to Sinjar."
Shamo highlighted the presence of irregular militias in Sinjar, including PKK and other factions who claim they belong to Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF), while there are forces under the authority of the Iraqi government such as the PMF and the Peshmerga. Shamo stressed that, "Sinjar agreement stipulates that only the army and the local police can be present in Sinjar, while the internal security of Sinjar is supervised by the intelligence and national security services."
The KDP official added that ongoing meetings are taking place between the committees formed between Baghdad and Erbil to implement the provisions of Sinjar Agreement, most notably restoring the legitimate administration of Sinjar, "the Mayor and the directors of the sub-districts" and repatriating the displaced people to their homes, as well as installing service programs in all the areas of Sinjar to establish social and economic stability.
The Federal and Regional Governments concluded a comprehensive agreement to restore stability to Sinjar district, which included setting up a joint administration in cooperation between the aforementioned parties.
Sinjar, in northwestern Iraq, was atrociously attacked by ISIS militants back in 2014. Despite the defeat of ISIS in 2015, and the deployment of PKK forces in Sinjar, many residents of Sinjar, the majority of whom are Yazidis, are still in displacement camps due to instability and lack of reconstruction plans there. Besides, PMF forces invaded the region in 2017 after an independence referendum was conducted by Kurdistan Regional government.