Shingal security, administration should be handled by locals: KRG Interior Minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Reber Ahmed has said the security and administration of the disputed district of Shingal should be handled by the “indigenous people” of the area, a month after an agreement was signed over governance in the area. 

Kurdish, Iraqi and UN officials met in Erbil on Tuesday to discuss the agreement, signed on October 9, which aims to resolve a number of issues preventing displaced Shingalis from returning to the area. 

“The people of Shingal will be the only occupants of Shingal, anyone from outside of Shingal cannot manage its security, forces and governance,” Kurdistan Region Minister of Interior Reber Ahmed said during a press conference after the meeting in Erbil. 

“Both sides have agreed that local administration, security and management should be handed back to the indigenous people of Shingal,” he added.

The meeting was attended by the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General (SRSG) for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Passchaert and Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji. 

The district is the heartland of the Yazidi ethnoreligious community, the vast majority of whom remain displaced after the Islamic State (ISIS) genocide in August 2014.

Hundreds of people gathered in Shingal earlier this month to call on Erbil and Baghdad to speed up the implementation of the deal so that thousands of displaced Yazidis can return to their homeland.

Under the Erbil-Baghdad agreement, security for the disputed region will be Baghdad's responsibility. 

“There won’t be any other force inside Sinjar (Shingal) other than Iraqi forces,” Araji said on Tuesday. 

Security in the area is currently handled by a number of armed groups and militias, including the Iraqi army, Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi), the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS, linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party),  federal police, Ezidkhan Protection Forces and Peshmerga.