Negotiating Peace in Iraq’s Disputed Territories: Modifying the Sinjar Agreement
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi meets with representatives of the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government on Oct. 9 2020 to discuss the Sinjar agreement. Photo credit: @IraqiPMO/Twitter
Editor’s Note: Iraq faces many knotty political problems, and one of the most difficult concerns the population in the area near the border with Turkey and Syria. There, the legacy of Iraq’s civil war and broader regional strife interacts with Iraq’s political dysfunction, creating a potent stew of grievances and potential violence. Boston University’s Shamiran Mako assesses the Baghdad-Erbil Sinjar agreement, explaining how discontent among local communities may jeopardize this fragile settlement and stability in general.
Iraq’s Catholics begin prayer for Pope’s visit
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphaël Sako has composed a prayer that the churches across Iraq will recite from Sunday, 17 January, in preparation for the visit of Pope Francis in March.
By Vatican News staff writer
Iraq awaits Pope Francis and prays that his visit may not only happen but also bear fruits of dialogue and peace among the people, long-tried by violence and divisions. The strife-torn nation continues to experience tensions not only along its border with Syria but also within, from Nasiriyah to the area of Mosul, which was the capital of the Islamic State between 2014 and 2017. Thousands of corpses continue to be unearthed from mass graves in Mosul, indicating the extent of terrorism that reigned there under the terror of the Islamic State.
The official logo of Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq / Saint-Adday
Rome Newsroom, Jan 13, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- More information has been released about the papal visit to Iraq, as Pope Francis expressed doubt this week about whether the trip would take place as planned in March.
In a television interview on Sunday, the pope said that he had canceled two international trips in 2020, “because in conscience I cannot cause gatherings, can I? Now I don’t know if the next trip to Iraq will take place,” he told the news program Tg5.
Meanwhile, local organizers of the visit released on Monday the logo and motto of the visit.
Mosul a sign that Christians and Muslims can cooperate in Iraq
The Monastery of Notre Dame de l’Heure, in Mosul (Credit: courtesy Father Olivier Poquillon.)
Dominican Father Olivier Poquillon is currently working in Mosul, Iraq, after serving as the General Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops Conferences of the EU (COMECE).
ROSARIO, Argentina Dominican Father Olivier Poquillon is currently working in Mosul, Iraq, after serving as the General Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE).
It wasn’t his first time in the country: He taught at the state university in Mosul from 2003-2004, shortly after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
A Christian woman inspects a home in the town of Bartella east of Mosul, Iraq, after it was liberated from Islamic State militants November 23, 2016. | Reuters/Khalid al Mousily
A church in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad that witnessed the massacre of dozens of worshipers by al-Qaida gunmen in 2010 celebrated Christmas in their place of worship for the first time in 10 years, with their faith still intact.
“I couldn’t feel the spirit of Christmas again,” Nawras Sabah William, a member of the Lady of Salvation church who was 18 at the time of the massacre, told The Sunday Times.
“No one thinks they’re going to go to church and never come home,” he added, as he, along with other members of the community, gathered at the church, amid security guards and police officers, to celebrate Christmas and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the massacre.