ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Yezidi official is urging Erbil and Baghdad to reopen the main Shingal-Duhok road with an official accusing the latter of the continued closure and of "punishing" the Yezidis.
"The main problem is the Iraqi government. We have asked the Iraqi government to reopen it. The government is in shambles and it is as in disarray as the state," Khudaida Chuke, acting Snune mayor, told Rudaw.
Snune is a town that lies at the northern foot of Mount Shingal. Around 350,000 Yezidis who fled ISIS in 2014 are sheltered in the Kurdistan Region — mostly in Duhok province, which borders the Yezidi homeland of Shingal.
"They just want to punish the Yezidis," he claimed.
Peshmerga officials from the Kurdistan Region said they have met with the relevant Iraqi parties more than twice but haven’t come to an agreement.
"Neither the Hashd al-Shaabi, nor the Iraqi government, nor the KRG alone has closed down the road but all three have done it," Chuke added.
He also accused the United Nations of being a complicit.
The road through Sihela, connecting Duhok to Zummar district and Shingal, was closed after Iraqi forces and Hashd al-Shaabi took control of Shingal and Snune in mid-October. Many Yezidis and organizations have called for the road to be reopened.
With the Sihela route closed, people resort to a longer and more dangerous route through Mosul.
He added the opening of the road on August 3, the fourth anniversary of the massacre of the Yezidis by ISIS, would have "made the people happy" and helped to alleviate some of their suffering.
A Peshmerga official said they were fine with the re-opening of the road and that they were not the ones blocking it.
Chuke added, the three sides tell us “we have not blocked the road." They want the issue addressed at higher levels.
Shingal is only 207 kilometers west of Erbil, but currently the only relatively safe route takes seven hours to traverse with several checkpoints belonging to various factions.
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