ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government on Tuesday dedicated over one million dollars to boost the ability of troops in Shingal district where the presence of various armed groups has resulted in insecurity. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi presided a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, deciding to “dedicate 1.5 billion dinars ($1.012 million) to the Joint Operations Command in order to enhance security in the Sinjar sector,” read a statement from his office, using the Arabic word for Shingal. The Yazidi heartland of Shingal, which is disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, has seen instability, insecurity and lack of basic services since the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked it in 2014. The district has been controlled by armed groups affiliated to the federal government, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Some of these forces have clashed over land control in recent years. The PKK-affiliated Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) and the Iraqi army clashed several times in the last couple of months after Baghdad wanted full control of the town’s main checkpoints. This led to the death of an Iraqi soldier. Hundreds of people fled to Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province due to the clashes. Around 200,000 Yazidis who fled Shingal in 2014 still live in the Kurdistan Region, many of whom linger in IDP camps and live well below the poverty line. The Iraqi government and the KRG signed an agreement in 2020 to “normalize” the situation in Shingal, which includes the withdrawal of all PKK-affiliated forces in the city. The agreement has been rejected by the PKK and its proxies. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on May 17 raised a series of recent developments in Iraq to the UN Security Council in New York, including the Shingal Agreement. She called on both Erbil and Baghdad to reach out to the people of Shingal, and for the speedy implementation of the agreement. “But for that to happen, stable governance and security structures are - of course - prerequisites… to date, there is no agreement on the selection of a new independent mayor, and funds for a new local security force remain blocked, possibly due to interference into unclear recruitment procedures,” she noted.
