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Closure of Iraq Camps Housing Yazidis Displaced by ISIS Attacks Gets Postponed

A Yazidi refugee girl from the minority Yazidi sect poses for a photograph on the first day of the new school term at Sharya refugee camp, on the outskirts of Duhok province in Iraq last October. (STRINGER/IRAQ / REUTERS)
A Yazidi refugee girl from the minority Yazidi sect poses for a photograph on the first day of the new school term at Sharya refugee camp, on the outskirts of Duhok province in Iraq last October. (STRINGER/IRAQ / REUTERS)
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Closure of Iraq Camps Housing Yazidis Displaced by ISIS Attacks Gets Postponed

A Yazidi refugee girl from the minority Yazidi sect poses for a photograph on the first day of the new school term at Sharya refugee camp, on the outskirts of Duhok province in Iraq last October. (STRINGER/IRAQ / REUTERS)
A Yazidi refugee girl from the minority Yazidi sect poses for a photograph on the first day of the new school term at Sharya refugee camp, on the outskirts of Duhok province in Iraq last October. (STRINGER/IRAQ / REUTERS)

The Iraqi government has postponed an order to clear out camps in the country’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region that house thousands of people who fled when the ISIS group seized their home areas a decade ago, officials said Tuesday.

Earlier this year, Baghdad ordered the camps to be closed by July 30 and offered payments of 4 million dinars (about $3,000) to occupants who leave.

Kurdish authorities refused to implement the closure order, saying that the areas the displaced people fled from — in particular, the remote district of Sinjar, the historic homeland of the Yazidi religious minority — are not suitable for returns.

A Kurdish official said that the regional government had reached an agreement with the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to postpone the closure until the end of the year, The AP reported.

The prime minister’s office has not released any public statement on the decision. However, a Baghdad government official confirmed that the closure had been postponed.

“A committee has been formed from the central government, the regional government and international organizations in order to assess the situation of the return of displaced persons and to provide the appropriate atmosphere for their return," he said. ”The return will be voluntary and not forced."

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information publicly.

As of April, only 43% of the more than 300,000 people displaced from Sinjar had returned, according to the International Organization for Migration.

IOM Chief of Mission Giorgi Gigauri said in a statement that returns have been hampered by “concerns over safety and security, the need for reconstruction including improved public service provision and availability of economic opportunities, widespread residential destruction, the need for accountability, redress and compensation, and the need for community reconciliation.”

In recent months, there has been an uptick in returns due to the camp closure order and compensation payments, but as of Tuesday, many residents of camps in the Dohuk area had not left.

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Arab World

Sudan’s Military Leader Survives Drone Strike That Killed 5, Says Army

FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
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Sudan’s Military Leader Survives Drone Strike That Killed 5, Says Army

FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa

Sudan’s military leader, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, survived a drone attack Wednesday on an army graduation ceremony he was attending in the country’s east, the military said. The attack that killed five people was the latest twist in the conflict Sudan has been going through since a popular uprising removed its veteran leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

The attack by two drones took place in the town of Gebeit after the ceremony was concluded, the military added. Burhan was not hurt, according to Lt. Col. Hassan Ibrahim, from the military spokesman's office.

Videos posted by Al Araby TV showed multiple people running along a dusty road at the time of the drone attack, while other footage showed people at the graduation ceremony apparently looking to the sky as the drone strike hit.

Another video posted on Facebook by the Sudanese Armed Forces showed a crowd of people gathering around Burhan following the drone strike, cheering for him as he smiled.

“A spontaneous popular gathering of the people of the Jebait region with the President of the Sovereign Council and Commander-in-Chief following the graduation of a new batch of officers,” the post read.

Sudan has been torn by war for more than a year between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). With fighting in the capital, Khartoum, the military leadership largely operates out of eastern Sudan near the Red Sea Coast.

The RSF has not commented on the assassination attempt yet, which comes nearly a week after its leader said that he planned to attend ceasefire talks in Switzerland next month.

Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the RSF, emphasized at the time that the talks would become “a major step” toward peace and stability in Sudan and create a new state based on “justice, equality and federal rule.”

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday responded to the US invitation to the talks in Geneva, saying the military-controlled Sudanese government is prepared to take part but said that any negotiation before implementing the Jeddah Declaration “wouldn’t be acceptable to the Sudanese people.”

The Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect Civilians passed last year meant to end the conflict, but neither side committed to its objectives.

Representatives from the Sudanese Army and the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, engaged in revived talks brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, focusing on the delivery of humanitarian aid, achieving ceasefires and paving the way toward a permanent cessation of aggression, among other objectives.

In its Tuesday statement, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry accused the RSF of being the only party that attacks cities, villages and civilians. The military-controlled Sudanese government demanded sanctions be imposed on “rebels to stop their continuous aggression, end their siege on cities, and open roads.”

“Those taking part in the initiative are the same as the parties who participated in the Jeddah talks, and the topics are identical to what was agreed upon,” the statement read.

The ministry added that the military-led government must be consulted about the planned agenda for any negotiations and parties taking part, with the provisions in the Jeddah Declaration being the basis of future talks.

The conflict has created the world’s largest displacement crisis with more than 10 million people forced to flee their homes since April 2023, according to the UN migration agency. They include more than 2.2 million who crossed into neighboring countries, it said.