Qadir Karam used to be a thriving community with over 3,000 inhabitants. It is a village in the Chamchamal district of Sulaymaniyah, which was destroyed by Government of Iraq (GoI) forces during the Anfal Campaign of 1988. It is located just southwest of the 'green line' - the former front line between Government of Iraq (GoI) and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
Many villagers from Qadir Karam were killed during the Anfal, the remainder were forced from their homes and fled to Chamchamal town itself, and the city of Sulaymaniyah. GoI forces destroyed the village leaving only the mosque standing. A military position was established, and the area surrounding it heavily mined to protect it from attacks by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
After the withdrawal of GoI forces in late March and early April 2003, MAG advance teams visited the village. They discovered the huge band of minefields surrounding it, large stores of landmines within the mosque, and the bridge across the river had been destroyed. The few remaining local people still visited the mosque daily to pray. The mosque contains the tombs of Sheik Abdul Karim and Sheik Kadir, ancient Kurdish martyrs. People used to come from all over the region to pray at their tombs.
Rooms in the mosque contained various types of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines in a dangerous condition. One mine detonating would have caused the others to explode, completely destroying the mosque. MAG Mine Action Teams (MATs) were able to conduct emergency work such as clearing and destroying the mines within the mosque, and demining the road. Clearance of an access route to the bridge allowed repair work to be carried out. The bridge has now been reconstructed and repair work on the mosque is underway.
Following this immediate work, however, MAG teams had to be withdrawn due to the deteriorating security situation which posed a serious risk to staff.
The stabilisation of security in the immediate area has allowed one MAT to resume essential survey, demarcation and clearance work in the last week. They are dealing not only with minefields laid at varying times between 1988 and 2003, but also items of unexploded ordnance resulting from the conflict last year. There is a vast area of 300,000m² which now needs to be made safe. MAG plans to have at least another two MATs working in the area soon.
Since 1988 eight people have lost their lives to mines/UXO in this area. An accident occurred only three weeks ago when a local shepherd lost his leg to a landmine. Clearance work is made more difficult for the teams because local people have attempted to remove items themselves to clear the area for grazing sheep. Not only do people put themselves in danger by moving mines but it also disrupts the landmine patterns, which makes it harder for the MAG teams to assess minefield boundaries and undertake clearance.
One family has already returned to the village. There are 1500 families who also want to return as soon as it has been made safe and homes have been built. There are plans in place to construct houses in the village for the returnees. In the meantime, shepherds continue to graze their animals across the area. A small number of shepherds have received Mine Risk Education (MRE) from MAG when the advance team accessed the area in April 2003. A needs assessment is currently being conducted by MAG community liaison staff. This will be followed up with appropriately targeted MRE for shepherds and other at-risk groups of local people such as returning displaced persons. This activity will complement the clearance work, which due to the vast range of minefield will take many months to complete.
February 2004
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