By International Christian Concern
Claire Evans
International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that the Nineveh Plains, the traditional homeland of Iraq’s Christians, is experiencing increased infrastructure challenges because of governance disputes and violent protests in the country’s southern region. Most of the Nineveh Plains’ existing infrastructure was destroyed by ISIS.
Claire Evans
International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that the Nineveh Plains, the traditional homeland of Iraq’s Christians, is experiencing increased infrastructure challenges because of governance disputes and violent protests in the country’s southern region. Most of the Nineveh Plains’ existing infrastructure was destroyed by ISIS.
On July 12, an armed force entered a church in Bartella and destroyed
their internet devices. It is believed that the armed force belongs to
Hashd al-Shaabi, an Iranian backed militia that controls a significant
part of the Nineveh Plains. “This began as a problem of internet providers,” explained a local Christian source. “The
central government is trying to provide internet; however, because the
internet towers in Bartella and Qaraqosh take their providers from the
KRG, an armed force from that ministry attacked all the towers there.”
“One of the towers is built on top of the cultural center. And
that cultural center belongs to Bartella’s church so they get inside and
they destroyed some devices. They were not there for the church
[directly but rather] because the church’s internet was from KRG and
they wanted them to get internet from Mosul,” the source continued.
Milad is a government worker from Bartella. He further explained, “We
are not comfortable living in Bartella post-ISIS… Shia Hashd is the top
here. This kind of behavior means that we are still [in] the grey
area.” He continued, “The aggressive armed men always send horror inside, we are not able to recognize ISIS behavior versus government behavior!”
Over the weekend, Iraq declared a state of emergency due to violent
protests in the south. In part, the protesters are demanding reduced
Iranian influence and better utilities. Internet remains mostly disabled
across the country. On July 15, Mosul Eye
reported that the share of electricity allocated to the Nineveh Plains
will be reduced by nearly half with the rest directed to the southern
provinces in order to meet the demands of protesters.
Al-Sumaria TV published an interview with the Deputy Chairman of the Nineveh Province Council, Noureddine Qablan, who said, “This
has exacerbated the electricity crisis in the province, which is
originally suffering from a lack of processing power… Is it reasonable
to be a victim of the failure of the Ministry of Electricity? On the
outskirts of Nineveh, there are now 16 camps where people live in dire
humanitarian situations. Nineveh is a disaster… the government is making
a mistake by reducing its share.”
Qablan continued, “This is an injustice to the population of
Nineveh… Nineveh is originally damaged and the ministries must support
the return of life to these cities (and turn) away from the policy of
marginalization.”
Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager, said, “The protest violence
existing in Iraq’s south does not exist in the Nineveh Plains. This
area, which has seen immense suffering because of ISIS, has barely any
infrastructure left. On the other hand, Iraq’s oil-rich south lacks
these utilities because of government corruption. It is wrong of the
authorities to use this time as an opportunity to violently force its
agenda on Christians and make them serve the infrastructure needs of the
south. It is because of Iraq’s violence and unfair treatment of
Christians that so many believers have left the country.”
13 luglio 2018
L'esercito iracheno distrugge i mezzi di connessione ad internet in una chiesa di Bartella