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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Erbil and Baghdad have agreed on a potential new mayor to the Nineveh province’s disputed district of Shingal as part of a recent governance deal between them, according to a senior official from the Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Qadir Qachakh, head of the KDP office in Shingal, told Rudaw on Thursday that the two governments have decided on former Snune sub-district head Khidir Rasho as the mayor of the district.
“They have agreed to appoint him. It is true that he is living abroad but he used to live in Shingal and was the head of the sub-district [of Snune],” added Qachakh who operates his office in Duhok as his party has not returned to Shingal since late 2017 when Peshmerga forces withdrew from it in the face of a military offensive by Iraqi Army and Hashd al-Shaabi militia groups.
“This will take effect after the invaders leave Shingal. The security and then administrative vacuum will be dealt with,” said the KDP official.
Rasho has been living abroad for seven years.
Erbil and Baghdad announced a “historic” deal over the governance of Shingal on Friday. Both sides agreed to end “the authority of intruding groups and paves the way for the reconstruction of the city and the full return of its people in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s spokesperson Ahmed Mullah Talal in a tweet.
Mahma Khalil is the elected mayor of Shingal, but works in Duhok, with the KDP no longer able to operate in the area due to several armed groups in control of the district. Militia groups affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have appointed a new mayor, Fahd Hamd, to the district.
Rudaw English reached out to Hamd about the new appointment, but he was not available to comment.
The PKK - an armed group struggling for increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey - participated in the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Yezidi homeland of Shingal in 2014. It supports the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) who are one of some six armed groups or forces currently operating in the Shingal area.
The Erbil-Baghdad agreement has been welcomed by the United Nations, the United States, and France, while Yezidi organizations are waiting to see full details of the plan.
Shingal lies within areas disputed between the governments in Baghdad and Erbil. The Yezidi population fled when ISIS swept through northern Iraq in 2014, committing genocide against the minority group. Hundreds of thousands sought refuge in camps in the Kurdistan Region, more than 6,000 people were kidnapped by the group, and over 1,200 killed. Federal forces took control of the region in 2017 after the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum.
Additional reporting by Nasr Ali
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