10/02/2018 Iraq (International Christian Concern) – Patriarch Louis Sako, head of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church, is pushing for cooperation between the Iraqi Central Government (ICG) and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). He cites tensions between the two governments as the cause of many complications. Public services, security, and stability have all been impacted by this tension. As a consequence, Iraq’s Christian community has experienced significant setbacks regarding post-ISIS reconstruction.
One example of how this tension impacts Christians is the road between Badnaya and Telskuf in the Nineveh Plains. The villages are only a few kilometers apart, but villagers are not allowed to travel directly between them. Instead, they must travel several hours south and around Mosul. During this journey, they pass multiple checkpoints controlled by different militias each with a unique agenda.
Since they fled ISIS’s genocide in 2014, Iraq’s Christians have experienced hardship on every side. ISIS was militarily defeated nearly a year ago, but tension between the ICG and KRG has kept the security situation unstable. ISIS continues to make sporadic incursions in the Nineveh Plains area. The cost of reconstructing ISIS’s damage is significant, leaving many Christians unable to return home even if they wanted to risk the security situation.
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