Lockdown leaves Iraqi security force members stuck at Bazarga checkpoint

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nearly 180 Iraqi security force members from Duhok province are stuck at Bazarga checkpoint, six kilometres north of Makhmour sub-district, due to lockdown measures imposed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 

KRG security forces stopped them from entering Erbil and Duhok provinces, despite nearly all of those blocked officially residing in Duhok province when off-duty. 

A lockdown between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region until April 16 by the KRG minister of interior, Rebar Ahmed, has left them in limbo and unable to reach their families.

The troops, which include members of the Iraqi army, police, as well as Special Operations Forces, have thus far been prevented from passing for three days and three nights on their way home from their posts in places as far as Mosul, Ramadi, and Baghdad. 

They have already spent nearly half of their eight days off from duty at the checkpoint.

Bapir Badal, an IDP displaced from Shingal in August 2014, was trying to transport his salary back to Duhok after spending 44 days undertaking duty in Ramadi.

“My kids are starving in the camp. They have no money or food. The children call me more than twenty times a day, wondering when I will return,” said Badal of his family living in Mamrashan camp, located in the district of Shekhan.

“They have nothing to eat; they are waiting for me. I have received my salary. Here is it in my pocket,” added the father of seven.

Bewar Mohammed Ali, who was on duty for forty days at Speicher Air Camp, Salahadeen province, before getting stuck at the checkpoint, told a Rudaw reporter,  ”I have been stuck here for two days. I am carrying 20 million Iraqi dinars on me, which is two months worth of my colleague's salary. I could not transfer it from Tikrit to Duhok. What if someone steals the amount of money! What shall I say to their families who are waiting for the money?” 

“We have nothing to eat,” he added, saying they could only get a hold of biscuits and juice for nourishment at the checkpoint.

A representative from the Governorate of Erbil has claimed that they do not have the authority to assist the stranded troops, saying the decision falls on the Ministry of Interior.

KRG minister of interior, Rebar Ahmed, has requested that the minister of Peshmerga not move the Kurdish forces without coordinating with the crisis cell specifically responsible for combating coronavirus.

Hundreds have been stuck at checkpoints across Iraq since the coronavirus crisis began. Although one country, the checkpoints often traverse internal political borders, divided between federal security forces and Kurdish authorities, which are divided between PUK and the KDP peshmerga.