NINEWA'S HERKI KURDS - THIS PROVINCE'S LARGEST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002513 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2017 TAGS: PREF PHUM PGOV MARR EAID IZ SUBJECT: NINEWA'S HERKI KURDS - THIS PROVINCE'S LARGEST UNRESOLVED IDP ISSUE Classified By: Ninewa PRT Team Leader Jason Hyland for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) message. ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Kurds of the Herki tribe, notorious in Iraq for their role as collaborators with Saddam Hussein, are the largest unresolved IDP issue in the northern province of Ninewa. They face threats from the Kurdish political establishment, which has not forgotten their actions under the old regime, from Sunni insurgents, who see them as Kurds, and from the Sha'bak and Christians of their 'host' community, who see them as intruders. The PRT regularly monitors the condition of the Herki for both the humanitarian and security aspects of their plight. As an initial step to alleviate the suffering of this isolated minority, USAID is arranging assessments of living conditions in the community, including a program to address urgent humanitarian requirements while exploring measures to integrate gradually the Herki minority into the surrounding communities. END SUMMARY -------------- Background -------------- ¶2. (SBU) During the Baa'thist/Kurdish struggles of the 1980's and early 1990's, the Kurdish Herki tribe of Acra (a district of Erbil formerly part of Ninewa) fought on the side of Saddam Hussein against the Peshmerga forces led by current Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) PM Barzani and Iraqi President Talibani. In 1992, after the implementation of the northern no-fly zone, the Herki were forcibly expelled from Barzani controlled Acra and resettled by Saddam Hussein in two military forts on the outskirts of Bartallah, eastern Ninewa where they lived in squalid conditions until 2003. After the fall of the regime, the squalor continued but expanded to three more nearby forts where the tribe members subsist as internally displaced persons (IDPs). From across northern Iraq, thousands of Herki have moved into the forts and the surrounding land as they continue to face reprisals elsewhere for their collaboration with the previous regime. -------------- Situation is stark... -------------- ¶3. (SBU) On May 19, then TL Knight and IPAO Polacheck traveled to Bartallah after a flare-up in ethnic tensions between the Shi'a Shabak and the Herki Kurds where the tribe's Sheik Jabbar Herki received them. Jabbar recounted the recent history of his tribe as summarized above. The Herki have turned the forts into condominiums, each holding approximately 300 families, with thousands others living in tents and houses on the surrounding Ministry of Defense owned land. Jabbar claims his tribe numbers 30,000, with 12,000-15,000 living as IDPs. -------------- ...and there is no where to go. -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Herki are in frequent conflict with the Shabak and Christians, the predominate groups in Bartallah, and heated confrontations are not uncommon. Jabbar and his entourage said that Mosul has become unsafe for the Herki, and that the only work available to them is casual labor such as construction and agriculture. Jabbar expressed a desire to leave the forts and to return to the ancestral villages in Acra. He claims KRG officials will only allow the Herki to return in family groups, not as a tribe and not to their traditional lands in Acra. ¶5. (SBU) Traveling with representatives from the PRT's Rule of Law and Health sections as well as USAID, IPAO Polacheck returned to Bartallah on July 11. The living standards remain poor. Jabbar said that Ninewa Vice Governor Khasro Goran (KDP) had ordered the Herki to vacate the forts during his last trip to Bartallah, an allegation confirmed by other, independent interlocutors. Jabbar claimed due to Khasro's efforts neither the Iraqi Red Crescent, Ninewa Governate nor the KRG was providing support. (NOTE: These allegations against Khasro have not been confirmed.) Food was still coming through the Public Distribution System but erratically. Though most males were away working as migrant agricultural workers, IPAO BAGHDAD 00002513 002 OF 002 Polacheck personally observed crowded living conditions with two or three families of 4-8 sharing five rooms. Many children were not in school and open sewage flowed through the courtyard. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) The Herki constitute the largest unresolved IDP issue in Ninewa. As former collaborators with Saddam Hussein and as Kurds, nowhere within Iraq is secure. The Sunni Arab insurgents target them as Kurds while the other Kurds remember their betrayal during the 80's and 90's. The local Shabak and Christians generally see them as intruders. Unwanted and unwelcome in their current location and banished from their ancestral lands, they are among the most destitute people in Ninewa. The PRT has and will continue to engage provincial leadership and the Iraqi Red Crescent to work to alleviate the plight of this controversial tribe. Toward this end, USAID is currently working through implementing partners to assess the conditions of the Herki community, to include a plan addressing urgent educational, health, shelter, and sanitation needs, while exploring measures to encourage a measured incorporation of the Herki into the surrounding communities. END COMMENT CROCKER