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Anfal victims see bleak future, Kurdistan
16.11.2005
By Frman Abdul-Rahman in Rizgary
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Relatives of those who perished in Iraqi army
massacres feel new political era unlikely to deliver
justice.
Noori Muhammed, 71, sits sadly in the sun, the deep
lines on his face revealing the tragedies of his
life.
Muhammed is the only survivor of his nine-member
family. His five sons, two daughters and wife were
killed when Saddam Hussein's forces carried out the
infamous Anfal campaign throughout Iraqi Kurdistan
in 1988.
Muhammed cast his ballot last month in favour of
Iraq's constitution, which some believe will mark a
new beginning for the battered country. Like many
Anfal victims, however, Muhammed holds little hope
that a constitution or Iraq's new political system
will change his life.
"I said yes to the constitution because the Kurdish
leadership asked us to," he said. "By taking part in
the referendum I take revenge on the Baathist Arabs
who killed my relatives and family members. They
still don't want a free stable Iraq to be
established."
During the Anfal campaigns, the Iraqi military
carried out mass executions and used chemical
weapons against residents of Kurdish towns and
villages. As many as 100,000 people were killed, or
went missing and are presumed dead.
Approximately 182,000 Kurdish non-combatant
civilians disappeared from their villages and were
sent to the Nugra Salman deserts in southern Iraq.
Human Rights Watch described the campaigns as "gross
violations of human rights" and reported that
approximately 2,000 villages were destroyed.
The former regime forcibly accommodated the Kurdish
survivors in a specially-built town in Sulaimaniyah
province, called Smoud - which means steadfastness.
Following the March 1991 uprising and Kurdish
autonomy in Iraq, the Kurds changed its name to
Rizgary, meaning redemption.
Today, Rizgary is a poor town with houses built of
mud, wood and stone. Most residents cannot return to
their villages, which were burned or are now heavily
mined.
The Anfal campaign mainly targeted men, with the
result that women were left to look after
households. Since the local economy was poor,
labouring work in on neighbouring farms provided the
majority of employment.
The local authorities have offered some assistance -
the Sulaimaniyah government ministry dealing with
Anfal victims provides about 150,000 Iraqi dinars,
or slightly more than 100 US dollars per month, to
8,500 affected families.
Representatives of the latter now want both
financial compensation from the Iraqi government and
official recognition of the Anfal campaigns as a
humanitarian tragedy. Few believe their demands will
be heard.
"We know that our relatives are dead," said Ahmed
Speeseri, 26. "But we want the new Iraqi government
to pay us damages."
Most of the town's residents backed the
constitution, which 99 per cent of voters in the
province approved, according to the Independent
Electoral Commission in Iraq. But, in Rizgary,
residents remain sceptical that Iraq's new legal
framework or attempts at democracy will bring them
justice.
The constitution does not mention compensating or
providing support for Anfal victims, and parliament
has not addressed the issue. Victims do not believe
that politicians, particularly Sunni Arabs who once
controlled Iraq, have any sympathy for their
situation or even recognise their tragedy.
The missing from Anfal are lumped into a file at the
ministry of human rights in Baghdad with those who
disappeared during the Iran-Iraq and 1991 Gulf war,
said Mansoor Hama-Karim, director for Anfal victims'
issues at the ministry for human rights in
Sulaimaniyah.
"I pin little hope on the constitution," said Rewaz
Sabeer, a 32-year-old housewife. "What guarantees do
we have that the next Iraqi government won't
[massacre] us again?"
“The mentality of Saddam’s era continues to prevail
among many Sunni Arabs," said Hama-Karim. "As a
result, we doubt that the Iraqi government will
provide a better life for the relatives of Anfal
victims in the future.”
Khuncha Kakabra, a 53-year-old housewife, lost her
son in the Anfal tragedy. Even with Saddam's trial,
which Kakabra prayed for, she is not hopeful that
Anfal victims and their families will receive
justice or compensation.
"I have no hope in Iraq," she said. "Saddam has been
toppled, but we are still living in these compulsory
camps where the Ba'athist regime forcefully settled
us."
Still, some have glimmers of hope.
"Everything ended with the fall of Saddam, and a new
era started when a Kurd became president," said
Speeseri. "That reassured us that the Kurds won't be
humiliated again."
Frman Abdul-Rahman is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
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