SHINGAL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq's Nineveh Plains are a long way from the jungles of Mynamar, but for Joseph, a Myanmarese medic with the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), treating a mortar wound is the same. It's just that with no trees here, mortars here do damage over greater distances.
“In the jungle, even if a mortar lands near, it's no problem,” says Joseph, who like many ethnic Karen, has no surname. But on Shingal, “it's pretty different.”
Joseph belongs to a clandestine non-governmental group that has been described as “Doctors Without Borders with guns,” that operates in the ethnic states of Myanmar. Now the group are in Iraq and they've been helping the Peshmerga in the fight against the Islamic State group.
The Myanmar group has courted controversy within the international aid community for providing direct assistance to armed groups – most humanitarian NGOs try to remain strictly neutral.
Frontline Peshmerga who have received their help, however, are grateful for their contribution and say the role of such groups is becoming increasingly significant as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) struggles to fight a war while facing a devastating financial crisis.
Last month Joseph and a team from the FBR visited Kurdistan for their third mission this year. They spent three weeks on the frontlines on Shingal and Bashiqa Mountain, providing medical training and running dental and medical clinics to treat wounded Peshmerga and displaced Yezidis.
Speaking at a medical centre on Shngal mountain, FBR founder David Eubank said on this trip their dentist had performed 350 fillings and extracted 100 teeth, while their medics had seen 300 sick and wounded Peshmerga, in addition to 50 sick Yezidis.
It was at a clinic on the outskirts of then ISIS-occupied Shingal that Joseph treated a Peshmerga whose foot had been nearly severed by shrapnel from a mortar. After the wound was cleaned and the bleeding staunched, the wounded Peshmerga was rushed to a hospital in the rear.
He would survive, in part thanks to the treatment he received, although Eubank noted that other Peshmerga have died from treatable injuries through lack of knowledge of basic medical techniques. Showing them how to apply a tourniquet could save a life, he said.
Eubank, an American son of missionaries who grew up in Thailand, founded FBR in the late 1990s as a proactive, pro-democracy humanitarian group, to provide aid to ethnic groups resisting Myanmar's military junta.
It is different from other NGOs – which try to maintain apolitical – in its opposition to the Myanmarese government. As a result, the group operates clandestinely in Myanmar and has often come into conflict with the government.
“We don't run,” Eubank said, adding that 19 members have died serving the group, since its formation. “Half were killed by the Burmese army.”
While FBR doesn't arm its members, Eubank – who himself does not carry a weapon – says members can decide to carry weapons. “We're here to help, not to fight,” says Eubank. “If we need to fight, there will be weapons around.”
Eubank's unorthodox approach extends to parenting. His 10-year-old son Pete has travelled with him to hot spots around the world. Speaking at a medical clinic on Mount Shingal, Pete can't remember exactly how many war zones he's seen, but lists South Sudan and Afghanistan.
Pete – who is mostly homeschooled – is nonplussed by what he has seen of the war in Iraqi Kurdistan. The mortar round which exploded within 200 meters when he was outside Shingal was close enough that they heard the incoming whistle and was “kinda scary,” he said, but not as loud as the 500 pound bomb he heard explode in Sudan.
Eubank says he does not deliberately expose his son to danger. “I send him back if there's fighting nearby.” At the same time though, “there's kids in every war zone.” Why should his own be any different?
Eubank acknowledges the difference between FBR and more traditional NGOs but says there is room for different approaches. “The world is everybody's,” he says.
An NGO worker familiar with the group's work in Myanmar says FBR enjoys a favorable reputation with other aid groups for being able to effectively provide aid in regions where more risk averse groups are unable to operate.
The Peshmerga on Bashiqa and Shingal were quick to welcome the FBR, Peshmerga commanders on the ground say.
With international support from other states limited to airstrikes and some military training and arming through the federal government in Baghdad, individual Peshmerga units have been willing to accept just about all the help they can get in combating ISIS.
Captain Mohamed Dusky of the 7th Peshmerga Brigade accompanied the FBR on their recent mission to Shingal and said they offered great help to the Peshmerga. Given the current financial crisis facing the KRG, help from NGOs was greatly appreciated on the front line. “Overall, the role of NGOs is increasingly significant,” he said.
The Ministry of Peshmerga – which oversees approximately a third of Peshmerga Brigades – downplays the contribution of non-state actors to the Peshmerga's fight against ISIS, however. “We at the Ministry of Peshmerga are only dealing with coalition allies,” said ministry spokesman Jabar Yawar.
Despite these groups being well intentioned, he questioned the significance of their contributions.
“We see some of these groups when we visit the frontlines,” he said. “Most of the time their goals of helping the Peshmerga will not reach practical steps.”
Captain Dusky however, said he hoped the rangers would return. “Even when I am off duty, I am ready to go with them while they serve the Peshmerga.”
