The “Sinjar Agreement” is an agreement concluded by the federal government headed by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi with the Kurdistan Regional Government on October 9, 2020, under the auspices of the United Nations, with the aim of normalizing the administrative, security and service conditions in the Sinjar district in Nineveh Governorate, and ending the manifestations of displacement and the multiplicity of armed factions. However, political factors and complex security interactions prevented the implementation of the agreement.
Despite Erbil's objection, a spokesman for the Iraqi Armed Forces confirmed on Wednesday that the integration and organization of members of the "Sinjar Protection Units" falls within the "exclusive" jurisdiction, tasks and duties of the Armed Forces, pointing to the handing over of the units' locations in the areas of Mount Sinjar to the Iraqi Army units and the rest of the Armed Forces formations.
The Minister of Interior in the Kurdistan Region, Reber Ahmed, had confirmed in a press statement that “previous experiences have proven that proceeding with sensitive files without consultation and coordination with the regional government will not be successful.”
The commander of the Peshmerga forces in Sinjar, Haider Shushu, also confirmed that his forces were not a party to the recent agreement that the Iraqi government recently concluded with “political parties in Sinjar.”
Observers believe that Erbil’s objection reflects fears of the inclusion of militants in Sinjar with ties to political parties allied with forces in the “coordination framework” and Shiite factions loyal to Iran, in exchange for the exclusion of Yazidi militants allied with influential Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan region.
Sinjar...the complex and the importance
Sinjar occupies a very important geographical and political strategic location in northwestern Iraq. Geographically, the district of Nineveh Governorate is located on the Iraqi-Syrian border adjacent to Turkey, and is dominated by “Mount Sinjar” with its height, which gives it visual control over the international trade and supply routes between Mosul, Deir ez-Zor, and Aleppo.
Security expert Mukhled Hazem told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Sinjar is an important node that is being fought over by more than three countries, and there are many armed parties,” considering that “the agreement with the (Bisha) forces and the attempt to integrate them into the Iraqi security forces is an advanced and important stage.”
But Kifah Mahmoud, the Kurdish political researcher, saw the “unilateral agreement” with “Bisha” as a violation of the agreement between Baghdad and Erbil in 2020 to normalize the situation in Sinjar.
Mahmoud said, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, that merging “Bisha” violates the spirit of the “Sinjar Agreement,” wondering about the behavior of the security forces in the future if the merger is limited to replacing the Iraqi flag with the flag of the “Workers’ Party,” as he put it.
For his part, the Kurdish politician Mahmoud Khoshnaw, who is close to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, believes that the problem of Sinjar and the armed organizations in it is not only related to the local dimension, but rather it is influenced by the regional factor that imposes itself on the process of restricting weapons to the state.
Khoshnaw told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The integration of the (Bisha) forces is a preliminary step to normalize the situation in those areas with the participation of everyone.”
On the other hand, Sherwan Al-Dobardani, a representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, considered that “the regional government’s failure to participate in the agreement to integrate the (Bisha) forces into the security forces is an unreassuring signal regarding stability in the town,” calling for “giving the people of Sinjar priority in joining the security forces.”
