Iraq remains barrier for Sinjar reconstruction

The Mayor of Sinjar (Shingal) has called upon the Iraqi government and the international community to assist in reconstructing the city as part of the re-stabilization process.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – The Mayor of Sinjar (Shingal) has called upon the Iraqi government and the international community to assist in reconstructing the city as part of the re-stabilization process.

Mahma Khalil, Mayor of Sinjar, told K24 in an interview, “Out of 8,105 houses, 5,000 of them are now destroyed due to the continuous clashes with the terrorist group before the city’s liberation, including 24 government buildings.”

The city was the battlefield between the Islamic State (IS) militants and the Peshmerga forces backed by the US-led coalition airstrikes for over a year. IS used the main government buildings and major roads in Sinjar to shelter against the airstrikes and the Peshmerga advancements.

Khalil stated that some work has been done to re-stabilize the city, but these efforts are not sufficient enough to reconstruct what IS damaged. “People have started returning to their homes. So far 37 families have returned to the city,” he told K24.

Khalil noted that the Iraqi government has allocated "zero budget" share to Sinjar. “Sinjar's budget disappeared under Nuri Maliki’s government in 2013, and the budget of 2014 and 2015 were not provided by the Mosul local government. As for the 2016 budget, nothing is known yet,” he added.

"Sinjar is safe because it is protected by Peshmerga forces and its security is just like Duhok and Erbil,” Khalil said.

Additionally, the Mayor stated, “The Iraqi government tries to diverge the attention of the NGOs from Sinjar. We call upon all the NGOs and representatives of various countries to provide assistance.”

The Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC), a crisis response center established by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), conducted a damage assessment report on the city in November 2015. The report concluded that the estimated budget for cleaning the city and restoring essential services is above $10 million.

Sinjar is located some 128 kilometers (80 miles) west of Mosul and 380 kilometers (236 miles) west of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region. The city is the historic land of the Ezidis, a Kurdish minority who practices an ancient religion.

 

Writing by Baxtiyar Goran

Editing by Ava Homa and Karzan Sulaivany