Only federal police should be inside the city of Mosul: official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Federal police should be in charge of security in the Nineveh Plains and Mosul, the president of the Nineveh provincial council told Rudaw on Sunday.

Saido Chato said that he made the demand to the Iraqi minister of interior, adding that the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and Iraqi military should be outside Mosul.

“We ask the Iraqi minister of the interior to only make federal police in charge of Mosul and Nineveh Plains and make the PMU and Iraqi forces in charge of outside cities,” Chato told Rudaw.

Chato, a member of the Yezidi ethno-religious community, said the Minister of the Interior Yassin al-Yasseri visited the Nineveh province today to evaluate the security situation after protests against the PMU leaving the area.

Under pressure to curb the independence of Iran-affiliated PMU units after a spate of rocket attacks against US military and economic targets in Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi ordered all PMU forces to withdraw from Mosul and the Nineveh Plains on July 31.

The order was part of a package of reforms to integrate the PMU further into Iraq’s defense apparatus. However, last week protesters blocked the Mosul-Erbil road in opposition to the removal of the PMU’s 30th brigade from the Nineveh Plains.

The brigade is predominantly made up of members of the Shabak ethno-religious community. Its leader Waad Qado, also known as Abu Jaafar al-Shabaki, has garnered notoriety for extracting money from inhabitants of the mixed Christian-Shabak town “through extortion, illegal arrests and kidnappings,” for which he has been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.

Yasseri’s visit also seeks to open the way for 13,252 former government employees who lost their jobs after the Islamic State (ISIS) took the city in 2014 to return to work. Most of these will join the federal police, according to Chato.

“The minister of interior is in Nineveh to restore security back to Nineveh province after the recent escalations happened due to the protests,” said Chato. “The minister is also aiming to re-employee more than 13,252 who are from Mosul back into the interior ministry various departments.”

Chato also revealed to Rudaw that he asked the interior minister to assist and help the Yezidi displaced people to return to their hometown Shingal by providing security there and establishing an administration in Shingal run by local Yezidi people.

The Nineveh Province is home to many ethno-religious minority groups, including Shabaks, Yazidis, and Christians.

In his visit, Minister of the Interior Yasseri said he agreed to bring back the employees who lost their jobs.

“We have decided to return at least 13,252 ceased employees in Mosul back to duty in different departments of the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior,” Yasseri said in a press conference in Nineveh on Sunday. “We have also monitored the security status in Nineveh province.”

Yasseri led a delegation from Baghdad to visit Mosul on Sunday to discuss the latest protests against the 30th brigade’s withdrawal.

Falih Fayyadh, head of the PMU commission and Iraq’s National Security Advisor, also visited Nineveh on Wednesday, two days after the protest.

Fayyadh announced that the PMU will be jointly responsible for security within the city of Mosul and the Nineveh Plains in a press conference.

The almost entirely Shiite Muslim PMU militias were formed in 2014 to fight ISIS following a religious decree, or fatwa, by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shiite religious authority in Iraq.

The PMU assisted the Iraqi army in the 2016-2017 offensive to dislodge ISIS from Mosul, backed by US-led international coalition air power. Since retaking all of Mosul and its surroundings in the summer of 2017, its units have continued to remain in the area.

PMU units are also participating in Iraq’s current “Will of Victory” operation to defeat ISIS remnants.

Only federal police should be inside the city of Mosul: official

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