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A memorandum from Nineveh Province Dignitaries, Sheikhs and Uleima |
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Çááå ÇáÑÍãä ÇáÑÍíã A memorandum from
Nineveh Province Dignitaries, Sheikhs and Uleima to: General Secretary
of the United Nations In the light of
the difficult circumstance that our country and people in general and the
Province of Nineveh in particular are going through, a number of dignitaries
and tribal chiefs from the Nineveh Province have met to discuss the tragic
condition of the people of the Province under the shadow of the deficiency
and absence of legislative and executive authorities and their security and
military authorities which have changed to become tools for the oppression of
the people of the Province and to add further to their misery. After discussions,
it was decided to raise the following memorandum in the hope it may find some
response to this call to protect this Arabic Islamic city and to assist our
people in the Province of Nineveh. We demand an
International Committee of Enquiry in addition to an Iraqi committee formed
by representatives of Uleima, Sheikhs and Notables drawn from central and
southern Iraq to investigate the crimes committed by the American occupation
forces assisted by members of the Interior Special Forces and National Guard.
We especially point to the sectarian crimes and the rape of Iraqi women which
count as grave precedent in Iraq. The Iraqi Government is partner to all of
these crimes in the absence of the media and in particular the killing and
kidnapping of journalists by mercenaries of the occupation after terrorising
and excluding satellite stations and Arabic and International media
preventing the coverage of what is going on to enable the slaughter of Iraqi
people without witnesses. As we lay before
the international public opinion and international human rights organisations
the truth of what is happening in Tel Afar of the extreme use of force and
the use of internationally forbidden weapons of poison gases, cluster,
microwave and napalm bombs, we demand autopsies be carried out on the corpses
of our sons who fell in the barbaric aggression by international medical
bodies to verify the inhuman practices carried out by the American forces of
occupation and to expose the stooge militias that participated in the
massacre of Tel Afar. We warn as
responsible people of the dangers of the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Tel Afar
and the left bank of the city of Mosul and surrounding villages carried out
by Beshmarga militias of the Kurdish parties and Badir Brigade “which are
acting as regular forces of the National Guard” aided by the silence of the
government where in particular the homes of the Sunna in the city of Tel Afar
are destroyed after the men are arrested and women and children are forcibly
evicted under threat of death and rape. We demand an end
to the organised campaign of arrest against the Sunna. About fifty to a
hundred sons, sheikhs and teachers of the Province are arrested only to be
released days later after the payment of bribes which exposes how low the
perpetrators are and their aim of breaking the morale of the people of the
Province. We demand the
trial of the ministers of defence and interior for what they have caused to
our people in Tel Afar and Mosul as a result of crimes rejected by human
conscience. We also hold the government responsible for the exterminations
and bloody butchery which took place in the city of Tel Afar and the extreme
cruelty meted out to Sunna civilians both Arab and Turcoman. We also demand the
removal of the Governor of Nineveh Duraid Kashmoola who was too weak to do
anything to assist the people of the Province and for keeping silent about
all the assassinations and arrests carried out the Kurdish gangs and the
Forces of Badir against the sons and notables of the Province. We also site
his silence and failure to put a stop to Kurdish expansion which has
encompassed all the villages of the Province. Kurdish gangs have abrogated
the right to the control of all towns and villages surrounding Mosul where
they treat all non Arabs even though they are not Kurdish such as Yezidis,
Assyrians and Shabak, as Kurds by force. They also appointed party
functionaries over such villages, took down the Iraqi flags and raised
Kurdish flags instead. Kurdish militias
have in fact occupied the left bank of the city of Mosul itself and took down
the Iraqi flags then raised Kurdish flags instead. The Governor has not
stirred because the Province is lead by the Kurdish deputy Governor Khisro
Kolani. He is the very person responsible for leading all of the
extermination and assassination operations against the Uleima, the sons of
the Province, its sheikhs and teachers. All of the people of Mosul know that
he is the person responsible for the assassination of the previous Governor
Dr. Osama Yousif Kashmoola because he made a stand against the Kurdish tide. While we warn of
the gravity of the security situation in the Province in general and Tel Afar
in particular we lay the responsibility for the latest sectarian escalation
upon the party militias working as regular forces such as the National Guard
as represented by the wolf and thunder brigades. In addition to arbitrary
arrests, inhuman treatment, violation of residents’ rights and the theft of
their belongings they shout upon entering towns in the Province “The army
of AlHusain is here to break the noses of the Sunnis”. This is a simple
indicator of the sectarianism and hatred of such groups which was not
familiar to either Sunni or Shia Iraqis and is a further clear indicator of
the treachery of the parties that entered from beyond the borders of the
Iraqi people. We demand the
withdrawal of all militias and all armed manifestations from the city of
Mosul where these militias have established check points and distributed
weapons to young militia men in an effort to terrorise the residents of
Mosul. They have cut off roads arbitrarily while the Governor does nothing;
in fact he is the last to know. They have hoisted Kurdish flags over
buildings in order to establish a de facto state as if we live in a country
that is not Iraq. Every one knows that Mosul (despite our belief that all
Iraqi cities are for all Iraqis) is an Arab city from old while the Kurdish
residents in the left bank are those who migrated in last few years under
pressure of difficult circumstances encountered in their areas. The people of
Mosul opened their arms to their brothers and embraced them not to turn their
city Kurdish because they believed in the unity of this country. This is in
sharp contrast with the banning of Iraqi Arabs from owning, building or
investing in the northern areas. In addition there is a campaign of
harassment to non Kurdish travellers to the north of Iraq. We protest at the
news blackout and total silence practiced by international organisations and
human rights organisations towards what is taking place in Tel Afar and
Mosul. We protest at the
news blackout and total silence practiced by Arab satellite stations towards
what happened and is happening in Tel Afar and Mosul. We protest the
Arab, Islamic and International silence towards the use of weapons of mass
destruction against our people in Tel Afar and demand an International
Committee of Enquiry similar to the one investigating the death of Al-Hariri
or is the blood of the people of Iraq in Tel Afar does not warrant
investigating? With God’s Peace
and Blessings The Council of
Nineveh Province Notables, Sheikhs and Uleima. Mosul 22/9/2005 |
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