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-------- Ursprüngliche Nachricht -------- Betreff: [ARTICLES] Nomads/IDPs; and patience running out on Arabization issue Datum: Sat, 17 May 2003 15:59:48 +0200 Von: KRGinGermany <KRGinGermany@netscape.net> An: ax.sternberg@t-online.de Office Berlin: Please, foward from my private account to Iraq@yahoogroups.com. Alexander "Nomads" is the wrong term; it should be "IDPs." What is needed is an IDP program for the Arabs\, and Kurds, who return to their original homes. At the end of the day, the bottom line is that the occupier-Arabs will have to leave and go somewhere. A sensitive, well-designed, and well-funded IDP program for them would serve the interests of all concerned. ______________________________ The Chicago Tribune Iraq gets a new class of nomads Hundreds of displaced farm families and villagers wander the northern region looking for a place to call home after Kurdish gunmen reclaim land seized during Saddam Hussein's reign By Tom Hundley Tribune foreign correspondent May 16, 2003 KHAN BENI SAAD, Iraq -- In the first days after the fall of the old regime, men with assault rifles came into their homes and ordered them to leave. In some villages, the gunmen gave them 24 hours. In others, they were more generous, offering the villagers a week to pack up and even promising that they could return to harvest their crops. No hard feelings. Just the reality that the men with the guns make the rules. In this case, the gunmen were Kurds, members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, a militia that has the Pentagon's blessing to operate in northern Iraq. They said their orders came directly from Jalal Talabani, the PUK leader and a man with close ties to the U.S. leadership in Iraq. The victims were Shiite tribesmen from the south who had been living in villages around Khanaqin, near the Iranian border. There is no personal enmity between the two groups. The men with the guns were simply reclaiming homes seized during Saddam Hussein's genocidal purge of the Kurds, which lasted from the mid-1970s through the 1980s and resulted in the emptying of 3,800 villages and the deaths of 200,000 people. The Shiites were originally from the southern city of Nasiriyah. Landless peasants, they, too, were forcibly transplanted to Khanaqin in a Stalinist effort by Hussein to "Arabize" the north and weaken Shiite solidarity in the south. "I always knew it was their land--the Kurds' land. That's why I didn't feel so angry when they came back," said Dauod Selman Jabber, 38, a farmer. Sent packing into desert So Jabber's family and hundreds of others from their tribe, the al-Sherafeyyeen, packed meager belongings into battered vehicles and departed. They have taken shelter where available. In the town of Khan Beni Saad, about an hour north of Baghdad, one group of about 250 from another tribe has found refuge in an abandoned prison. They spruced up the cells with family pictures and carpets. Jabber and about a dozen other families from his tribe have settled at abandoned army barracks in the same village. Their cows and goats now graze where soldiers once trained. Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March, humanitarian agencies feared a war would trigger a flood of refugees, up to a million or more. That never happened. Thus far, the biggest population transfers have been Iraqis evicted from houses that are being reclaimed by Kurds. Human Rights Watch, which has looked into the matter, estimates that 5,000 people from the Khanaqin area have been forced from their homes. "People are on the move all through Iraq. This group is the largest that we have identified so far, but we believe there are displacements in Mosul and Kirkuk and other places," said Peter Bouckaert, a senior researcher for the humanitarian group in Baghdad. "I wouldn't call it ethnic cleansing--I reserve that phrase for nastier folks--but something has to be done for these people," he said. Jabber blamed one man for his tribe's plight. "It's Saddam's fault. If we had stayed in Nasiriyah, this never would have happened. But he moved the Kurds out of their lands and then he moved the Arabs, so it's his fault," he said. Placing blame for plight "After 33 years of work and 12 family members, I now have nothing because of this man," Hamid Mayh, another farmer from the village, said in agreement. What the villagers are hoping for is that someone in authority will give them land. "We are now asking the authorities--whoever they are--to allow us to have someplace in the shade," said Ali Murad Hussein, 66, one of the village elders. But there is no authority in the Iraqi hinterlands. Only men with guns. "Before, if I had a quarrel with you, I went to court to settle it. Now I have to shoot you or you will shoot me to reach a settlement," said Murshid Shilfat, 45, another displaced farmer. And for this state of affairs, they blame the United States. "The Americans came and got rid of Saddam Hussein, but what did they do for the people?" asked Shilfat. "The Americans are responsible for this chaos." Because of the security crisis, very few aid agencies operate in Iraq, and none has ventured into Khan Beni Saad. The few supplies these farmers managed to bring with them are running low, and they are worried that soon they will be hungry. "The people are restless. But if the Americans would give us some rations, they would relax," said Mayh. "The people don't want a rebellion against the Americans, but if we are hungry, things can go wrong." __________________________________________ May 17, 2003 The New York Times Among Kurds, Impatience and Anger Is Growing By SABRINA TAVERNISE KIRKUK, Iraq, May 15 — Old and painful fault lines are beginning to open in the messy ethnic patchwork of Iraq's north. Since the end of the war, Kurds in the area have been making the trek from the towns to which they were banished by Saddam Hussein during brutal ethnic cleansing campaigns of the 1970's and 1980's back to the places where they grew up. But the homecomings can be awkward affairs. In many instances, returning Kurds confront Arabs who were brought in to replace them as part of the government's strategy of establishing a firm hold over the rich oil resources of the north. Now Kurdish leaders want them out but the Americans want to move deliberately in order to protect legitimate property rights. In an interview this week, Sami Abdul Rahman, one of the highest-ranking members of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, criticized the American approach as too slow. "We can compromise on everything but Arabization," Mr. Rahman said. "The Arabs are leaving the land they stole, but Americans are bringing them back. This is the biggest insult to the Kurdish people. Those who delay decisions will have to face popular anger." The American authorities say they do not have the manpower or the system to sort out property claims. Their objective is to temporarily freeze living arrangements in their prewar condition, intervening on occasion when a weapon is involved. In some cases, American forces have asked returning Kurds to stay away from vacant villages. Kamal Kerkuki, 49, a Kurd from this city whose land was taken away in the 1960's during the first sweep of the area by the Baath Party, said some of the more aggressive Kurds have even been jailed for short stretches. Sorting out the truth can be difficult. Stories are exaggerated and emotions often run high. The problems in the city proper peaked a few weeks ago, said Col. William Mayville of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. But the provinces are still tense. Just today, Colonel Mayville agreed on a split of the harvest between the Arabs who planted it and the Kurds who own the land. The Kurds "are the victims," Colonel Mayville said. "But part of what they are asking to redress could cause more victims." While the debate goes on, many Arabs who fear retribution are simply abandoning the farms and villages they occupied decades ago. A drive through the foothills here is a surreal tour through a land of empty villages, some slowly being resettled by Kurds. Here in Kirkuk, the heart of the Kurdish enclave, Arabs have even been beaten, taken hostage and threatened with guns. But cool-headed Kurds are working with American forces to defuse a potentially explosive situation. Mr. Kerkuki spent this afternoon persuading a Kurdish family to protect an Arab husband and wife who had fled in fear. Mr. Kerkuki, the Kurdish representative to the American forces here, has worked 18-hour days on ethnic conflicts in Kirkuk since the war began, resettling both Kurds and Arabs. He also speaks his mind. "Americans have one policy: everything should wait until a solution can be found through law," he said in his car between interventions. "But I told them, 'If you went home now and saw someone in your house who kicked you out 12 years ago, you wouldn't want to wait around.' " Consider Muhsen Zanganah, a father of five who has been living in a camp about 60 miles from here since losing his home in the late 1980's. Two weeks ago, he packed up his family and brought them here, to his old neighborhood. Finding his house gone, he occupied the first empty one he found. Today, American soldiers told him he had two weeks to leave. "I have lived for years in a tent," he said angrily, sitting on the porch of the house. "If I have to leave, where will I go? The Americans are protecting the Arabs. Kurds are very angry about Americans in Kirkuk." The Arab who made the complaint "was a senior member of the Baath Party," Mr. Zanganah said. "If he comes back to force my family to leave, I will kill him." Arabs are afraid. In Qadesiya, "For Sale" signs hang on the walls of courtyards. In interviews today, three families said they felt threatened; two said they planned to leave. One Arab woman, a teacher, said Kurdish militias were coming into neighborhoods at night and firing guns to scare people away. "They are correcting a mistake with a mistake," said the woman, who moved to Kirkuk in 1980. "On TV, Kurds are saying Kirkuk is only for the Kurds. They say only 'original Arabs' can remain here. What are we, fake?" Kurds have been using hard language. The regional parliament, located in the city of Erbil, drew up a law during its Monday session that will set up some ground rules for "cleaning the traces of the Arabization process" from the region. People continue to wait to return to their hometowns. About 50 Kurdish families are living in the Iraqi Army's Emergency Reserve barracks on the edge of town. More families are living in a sports stadium nearby. Thousands still reside in tent cities. "They will have to wait, but they are not willing to wait for a long time," Mr. Kerkuki said. "We cannot control them. America cannot control them." ______________________________ -- Ihre bevorzugten Shops, hilfreiche Einkaufs-Hilfen und großartige Geschenk Ideen. Erleben Sie das Vergnügen online einzukaufen mit Shop@Netscape! http://shopping.netscape.de/shopping/ _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk