PRT NINEWA: IRAQI CHRISTIANS FEEL UNDER SIEGE IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000505

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/I

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2020
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER KIRF PINS KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: PRT NINEWA: IRAQI CHRISTIANS FEEL UNDER SIEGE IN
MOSUL

REF: BAGHDAD 0318

Classified By: Ninewa PRT Leader W. Patrick Murphy: Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (U) This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)
message.


2. (U) Summary. The city of Mosul's estimated 3,000
Christians, an already diminishing community, has suffered
another round of targeted violence. Over the first three
weeks of February, assailants have brutally assassinated or
murdered at least eight of Mosul's Christians. The violence
has forced a small but growing number of Christian families
to flee Mosul for safe havens in disputed areas of Ninewa
Province. Calls by the governor for ISF to provide increased
security have had no visible affect, according to the
Christian community, leaving them feeling increasingly
vulnerable to violent intimidation. Conspiracy theorists
blame Kurdish political entities, but the perpetrators of the
attacks, and their motives, remain unknown. End Summary.

Christian Families Leave Mosul
--------------


3. (U) Over the first three weeks of February, gunmen have
assassinated or murdered at least eight Christians in Mosul.
Reacting to the increase in attacks, some forty families from
Mosul's beleaguered Christian community have fled to other
parts of Ninewa, primarily to the disputed districts of Tal
Kayf and Hamdaniya, home to significant Christian
communities. The newly installed Chaldean Archbishop of
Mosul, in a press statement on Feb 20, said the attacks
constitute an "effort to force Christians to leave Mosul,"
and described the uncertainty and apprehension the community
feels at work, at home, and at school.

Eight Dead in Nine Days
--------------


4. (U) The PRT confirmed the following press accounts of
recent assassinations and murders in Mosul, all involving
Christian victims: on February 14, drive-by shooters killed
a man outside his home; the following day, unknown assailants
shot a greengrocer outside his shop; on February 16,
unidentified gunmen shot two Mosul University students,
killing one and wounding the other; on February 17, police
found the body of another student who had been shot; on
February 22, police reported finding the body of a Christian
man kidnapped nine days earlier; on February 23, gunmen
entered the home of a Christian family, segregating and
reportedly raping the women, and killed the father and two
sons. The Feb 23 victims were family members of a Chaldean
priest, himself the victim of a previous kidnapping.

Inadequate ISF Response, No Suspects
--------------


5. (C) No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and
Iraqi police have announced no leads in the cases, though
they cite "terrorists" as the perpetrators. Governor Atheel
al-Nujaifi decried publicly what he sees as the lack of
adequate attention on the part of Iraqi security forces
(ISF). Reiterating a public statement he made in December,
he called for increased protection for the Christian
community. PRT contacts within the Christian community
reported seeing no increase in ISF presence in their
neighborhoods, supporting the governor's assertion. Many
have also stayed home from work and school, fearing the ISF
incapable of providing adequate security. Perhaps in
response to the governor,s call, the Chief of Staff at the
Ninewa operations center, during a February 22 staff meeting,
announced measures to improve security for Christians,
including ISF escorts for students to and from school and
Qincluding ISF escorts for students to and from school and
increased screening and searches in areas around churches.

Kurdish Connection?
--------------


6. (C) Some members of the Christian community, and many
local Arab leaders, point to the Kurdish Democratic Party
(KDP) as perpetrating the attacks, although they lack
evidence to support the assertion. The Christians believe
that the KDP benefits from the attacks by encouraging
families to abandon the Arab-majority Mosul metropolitan area
and relocate to KSF-controlled disputed areas. According to
this theory, the KRG can advance its authority over the
territory with the argument that only KSF are capable of
protecting minority populations.


Comment: A Diminishing Community
--------------


7. (C) The attacks clearly seem intended to intimidate the
Christian community into leaving Mosul. Following attacks
over the past couple of years, Mosul's Christian population
dropped from approximately 13,000 to 3,000. The current
attacks have already seen that number diminish further. For
now, however, most of these Christian appear to be staying
within Ninewa, rather than fleeing abroad. Continued
attacks, however, combined with escalating Arab/Kurd tensions
in Ninewa, could easily lead to another cycle of Christian
emigration from Iraq. End Comment.
HILL