1,500 displaced families repatriated in Nineveh: Official
Displaced children who fled the clashes queue to receive aid from Iraqi security forces in Antesaar neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Speaking to Alghad Press, Naysan Kroumi, mayor of Hamdaniya, said “1,500 displaced families have returned back to Nineveh,” blaming the slow pace of return on the lack of basic services.
“The return to villages and countrysides in Hamdaniya is much better from the regions in the center of Nineveh, for not so much harmed like those regions,” he said adding that 80 percent of those displaced from Hamdaniya returned back to their houses, despite the huge suffering regarding services and facilities.
Earlier this month, Dureid Hekmat, Nineveh governor’s advisor for Christian affairs, said the number of Christian families repatriated since the recapture of Nineveh province from Islamic State militants has reached nearly 3000. The regions of Hamdaniya and Tel Saqf have seen the highest number of returnees since the Iraqi government declared late August the retaking of Tal Afar, IS militants’ last stronghold in the province. Other regions like Bashiqa and Bartella are seeing a slower rate of repatriation.
Nearly three million people were displaced due to the war waged against Islamic State since 2014, when the militants emerged to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria.