NINEWA: SMALL-SCALE RETURNS TO MOSUL OF CHRISTIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003424

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KIRF PTER IZ
SUBJECT: NINEWA: SMALL-SCALE RETURNS TO MOSUL OF CHRISTIAN
IDPS

Classified By: Ninewa PRT Leader Alex Laskaris, Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) Summary: The commander of Iraqi Security Forces (ISF)
in Ninewa, LTG Riyad, told us October 26 that 130 displaced
Christians have returned to the city. Ninewa governor
Kashmoula said all Christian civil servants who work in
Provincial Hall are back on the job. One of his deputies
told us that many Christian university students have returned
to class, although many are commuting into the city.
Kashmoula was dismissive of Christian political leadership,
saying that politicians are taking advantage of the IDP
flight in order to advance personal political agendas. A
more robust ISF presence on the streets seems to have
encouraged some Christians to return to the city, as we
confirmed in meetings with several of the returnees. End
Summary.

2. (C) PRT leader discussed the state of Christian
internally displaced persons (IDPs) with Deputy Governor for
Administrative Affairs Yussuf Lalo (protect) and, separately,
with Ninewa Governor Duraid Kashmoula on October 26. Lalo
said that many of the 2,000 Christian students at Mosul
University have returned to class, although most are
commuting in from outlying areas. He said that one of the
owners of a destroyed home in Mosul approached him the
previous day asking for some $150,000 to rebuild her home in
the Al-Suker neighborhood, and he asked if the U.S. could
intercede on her behalf with the GOI.

3. (C) Kashmoula said that the pre-September 28 Christian
population of Mosul was 24,000; he said that there are
120,000 Christians of all denominations in Ninewa Province.
In a separate conversation, NOC Commander LTG Riyad told CF
that some 130 Christians have returned to Mosul. Kashmoula
too said there have been some small-scale returns, and noted
that all of the Christians who work in Provincial Hall are
back on the job. (Note: He had guaranteed their salaries
even if they did not return.) Kashmoula said that the only
people who reliably speak for the Christians are their
clergymen. He was dismissive of the Christian political
establishment, which he said is taking advantage of the IDP
flight in order to advance personal political agendas.

4. (C) PRT-Ninewa and a U.S. Army Civil Affairs team visited
Mosul's Christian neighborhood of Al-Sukar October 24 and
spoke with several returnees. While a small sample, this
anecdotal information coincides with what we are hearing from
political contacts. On the street where three Christian
houses were destroyed, the patriarch of a prominent Christian
family told us his family of nine returned from the village
of Bashiqa (about 20 miles northeast of Mosul) four to five
days earlier, but said that the vast majority of families
have chosen to remain outside of Mosul for the time being.
He has little faith in the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) or the
provincial governor, but his neighbors told us they have seen
increased ISF patrols in the neighborhood. On the other
hand, another Christian resident told us he only came back to
check his property and would never live in Mosul again.

5. (C) On October 25, MND-N Deputy Commander BG Thomas had a
similar conversation with a Christian family in the Mahiya
neighborhood, which fled when other Mosul Christians departed
but returned five days later. The local ISF commander in
Mahiya has augmented forces on the street and intends to show
that his unit will protect all residents. In the Al-Sukar
neighborhood, Major Abed of the recently deployed Iraqi Army
First Battalion, Ninth Brigade, told us that he has ordered
two-person patrols throughout the neighborhood. One of his
lieutenants estimated that about half of Al-Sukar,s
Christian residents had left, but he claimed that his unit
has arrested many suspected insurgents and the area is now
secure.

6. (C) Comment: Mosul Christians fled en masse in response
to murders, direct intimidation, or ) in the majority of
cases ) fear induced by the flight of others in the
community. With many families in safe-havens nearby, we
expect that decisions on returns will be made on a
household-by-household basis. An ISF presence that is
visible, constant and accessible to the Moslawi public will,
over time, give Christian and other IDPs the confidence to
make the choice to return. Getting the ISF to adopt a
community policing model, a strategy that Coalition Forces
are pursuing, is our best security response to this flight
and insecurity in general. End comment.

CROCKER