ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Nearly 1,000 people have been struck in the disputed district of Shingal due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions, forcing many to pay hundreds of dollars to be smuggled into the Kurdistan Region, according to local officials.
A senior official from Shingal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Rudaw on Monday that 975 people who live as internally displaced people in the Kurdistan Region visited Shingal during the last six months, mostly for work, but have been unable to return to the Region.
He said that 205 civilians have been affected, as well as 500 members of the Iraqi army and 270 members of the Peshmerga forces.
Sheikh Ajaj lives in a camp in Duhok province. He returned to Shingal six months ago for business but has been stranded since, and has called on both Erbil and Baghdad to help him return to Duhok.
“I call on the Iraqi and Kurdistan governments to reopen the roads for us and solve our issue. I have been struck here for [six] months,” he told Rudaw on Monday, adding that he has exhausted all options for returning to Duhok.
Thousands of people fled to the Kurdistan Region from Shingal, the Yezidi heartland, after the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked in 2014. Most fled to Duhok province. Some have returned home but most still live in camps across the Kurdistan Region.
Travel between the Kurdistan Region and Iraqi federal provinces has been restricted since the outbreak of the pandemic in March. The Kurdistan Regional Government currently only allows people to return permanently to Shingal, not to visit and return to the Kurdistan Region.
Smuggling
Most of the stranded work in Shingal as members of the security forces, or in small businesses. Despite their low incomes, some have had no option but to pay hundreds of dollars – equivalent to a month’s wages for some - to return to the Kurdistan Region.
Fahd Hamid, de-facto mayor of Shingal, and Khudeda Chuke, mayor of Snune, confirmed to Rudaw English that some people pay hundreds of dollars to be smuggled into the Kurdistan Region.
One of those who returned to the Region illegally told Rudaw English that he had to pay $200 dollars to return to a camp in Duhok – almost all of his $240 monthly wage. He spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.
“I went back to my home in Khanke Camp one month ago and yesterday I returned to Shingal again. I paid smugglers $200 for the trip to Kurdistan through illegal routes,” he said, adding that another person was also smuggled with him.
He works as a shopkeeper in Shingal for $240 a month, but had no choice but to pay the eye-watering smuggling fees: “I really missed my family.”
Additional reporting by Tahseen Qasim
