Shafaq News- Nineveh

The Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) return to Sinjar depends on a decision by the party leadership, the head of the KDP’s Branch 17 in the district told Shafaq News on Monday.

Mahma Khalil said the KDP has plans for Sinjar focused on providing services and advancing transitional justice to help stabilize the district. He also referred to agreements concerning the Sinjar issue and said the party’s withdrawal followed previous events.

The KDP left Sinjar after ISIS seized the district, before returning following its liberation. It withdrew again in 2017 following the Kurdistan independence referendum and the events that followed under then-Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi.

The Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government signed the UN-backed Sinjar Agreement on October 9, 2020, aimed at regulating security and administrative arrangements, advancing reconstruction, and creating conditions for displaced residents to return. Implementation has stalled over disputes concerning the district’s administration and the appointment of an independent district commissioner acceptable to the parties involved, as stipulated in the agreement.

Last week, an official ceremony was held on Mount Sinjar to mark the Sinjar Resistance Units’ (YBŞ) transition from an independent armed faction and transfer its members into federal security formations.

Read more: YBŞ deal secures Sinjar’s mountain, leaves its administration unresolved