Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The Iraqi central government has ordered to transfer to Baghdad 4 thousand soldiers and police who previously worked in the north provinces of Iraq - including the province of Nineveh – and this has provoked strong reactions on behalf of organizations and Christian politicians. This provision reveals the ambiguity and confusion of political leaders and national military with regards to the many times announced "offensive" to liberate Mosul, the Nineveh Plain and areas in Iraq fallen for more than a year under the rule of the jihadist Islamic State (Daesh).
In particular, the police and Christian military who were stationed in the Nineveh plain - and currently are mainly located in Erbil and other areas of Iraqi Kurdistan - do not intend to move to the capital, simply because they intend to be on the front line of the possible next release of the villages where they had to flee because of the Daesh offensive. Anwar Hidayat, a member of the provincial Council of Nineveh - Iraqi media reports - called on the central government and the Iraqi Interior Ministry to reconsider its decision, to avoid police and Christian military to be excluded from the announced operations to reconquer the Nineveh Plain, and perhaps be involved in military campaigns in other regions of Iraq, that they do not know. Similar arguments had been used in recent days by Christian politician Imad Youkhana, a member of parliament in Baghdad.
The objections of those who consider the transfer of the Christian military in the Nineveh Plain to Baghdad incongruous, were answered by Ryan-Keldani, a member of the so-called "Brigades of Babylon", according to whom the transfer to Baghdad is necessary in order to allow almost 350 policemen and Christian soldiers of the Nineveh Plain to attend training courses. Also – said al-Keldani - Iraqi Christian soldiers may be called upon to defend their Country in every area, not just in the regions inhabited by them if they really want to contribute to the defense of a plural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, and counteract the division on sectarian basis that loom ominously over the Country. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 22/07/2015)
