ASIA/IRAQ - An initiative made in the USA for the creation of a protected area reserved for religious minorities in the Nineveh Plain

Saturday, 10 September 2016 geopolitics   area crisis   sectaniarism  

Indefenseofchristians.org

Mosul (Agenzia Fides) - The political and administrative future of Mosul and the north-Iraqi province of Nineveh continues to be the center of operations, initiatives and projects of different origins, often divergent or even antithetical, which sometimes are conceived out of Iraq. In Washington, at the National Convention promoted in recent days (7-9 September) by the US non-profit organization In Defense of Christians (IDC), and dedicated to the theme "Beyond Genocide: Preserving Christianity in the Middle East", the idea of putting pressure on the US Congress took shape so that it supports the creation of a "protected area" for religious minorities in the Nineveh Plain, with the consent of the local authorities and in collaboration with both the central government in Baghdad and with political leaders of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. US Congressmen attending the Convention - organized in collaboration with acronyms like Philos Project, the Armenian National Committee of America and the Institute of Global Engagement - have already expressed their support to the initiative. This happens while the American University of Kurdistan, based in Dohuk, spreads a survey according to which 90 percent of Christian residents in Ankawa – a suburb in Erbil – are in favor of the independence of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Meanwhile, the governor of Nineveh province Athil al Nujafi - also forced to flee when the region was conquered by the jihadi militias of the Islamic State (Daesh) - revealed to Turkish news agencies that there is a project to divide this province in six or eight areas destined to different ethnic or religious identity populations, and confirmed the contrasts between the Iraqi central government and the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan with regards to the future political settlement of Mosul and Nineveh Plain. According to local sources consulted by Fides, even these conflicts are contributing to delaying military operations - as previously announced - for the liberation of Mosul from the control of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 10/09/2016)


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