More than 120 displaced families return to Sinjar from Duhok camp in Iraq

Shafaq News/ 128 displaced families have returned to their homes in Sinjar from the Kabarto camp in southern Duhok, the governorate's directorate of migration announced on Sunday.

Dyan Jaafar, the head of the directorate, told Shafaq News agency that the return of the displaced people is continuing successfully as part of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) program.

Jaafar explained that there is a suspension of the decision to close the displacement camps in the Kurdistan Region at present, adding that there are ongoing negotiations between the federal and regional governments to find other positive solutions that serve the return process.

He added that the federal government has concluded that closing the camps on July 30, 2024, may not serve the interests of the displaced at the moment.

For his part, one of the displaced people who returned to Sinjar expressed his readiness to return to his home in the district from which he was displaced ten years ago.

However, he told Shafaq News agency that he and his family will remain in the tent instead of their destroyed homes, considering that the compensation offered is "not enough".

It is noteworthy that the voluntary return program comes as part of the efforts to rebuild the affected areas, where more than 700 families have returned from the camps of Dohuk Governorate to Sinjar so far.

Baghdad and Erbil reached an agreement in October 2020 to normalize the situation in Sinjar, including joint administration of the district. However, the agreement remains stalled due to political reasons, according to Kurdish officials.

ISIS militants had overrun Sinjar in 2014, committing atrocities against the Yazidi population. Peshmerga forces recaptured the district the following year.

Following tensions between the Kurdistan Region and the federal government over the 2017 independence referendum, the Iraqi army, backed by the Popular Mobilization Forces, assumed control of Sinjar.

Currently, Sinjar has two local administrations: one appointed by the federal government and another operating from the Dohuk Governorate.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) also maintains a pro-PKK faction in Sinjar known as the Sinjar Protection Units, which receives Iraqi government funds as part of the Popular Mobilization Forces.