A CHALDEAN Christian businessman was the latest victim of sectarian assassination in Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest and most violent city.
The killing on Wednesday of Sabah Yacoub Adam (55) occurred in a mixed neighbourhood near a Dominican monastery. His death was the first of a Christian in Mosul since the March 7th parliamentary election, which was preceded by the murder of at least 29 Christians in the city, prompting an exodus of 680 Christian families.
While Muslim fundamentalists affiliated with al-Qaeda have targeted Christians in the belief that they support the occupation by the US “crusader,” the aim of the latest assassinations is to force Christians to back either Arabs or Kurds in the ongoing power struggle in Mosul. This began last year when Arab nationalists ousted Kurdish parties that had been dominant in Mosul after the 2005 national and provincial elections were boycotted by Sunni Arabs.
An Iraqi Christian physician based in the Kurdish region told The Irish Times “Mosul is the worst city in Iraq” for Christians. Patients who travel from Mosul to get treatment from him say Christians who are scattered throughout the city “cannot defend themselves”. Students do not go to schools and universities and many people are afraid to leave their homes.
“I believe there is a competition between different groups about who is the strongest . . . the main struggle is between Sunni Arabs and Kurds . . . We are caught in the crossfire.” He said none of the killers had been “brought to justice [because] it is organised killing”. He observed that Christians living in Christian towns and villages outside Mosul were safer because they were together and could better defend themselves.
“Christians were in Iraq before any of the other religions. We are supposed to be the original people of Iraq. The Assyrian Christians are better organised because they have a [political] party and a militia. They are very strong. [We] Chaldeans, have not got strong political or social connections.”
On February 28th, Christians living in the town of Hamdaniyah, east of Mosul, Baghdad, Kirkuk and Basra demonstrated against the killings and accused the government of failing to take action.
Last year Human Rights Watch reported that two-thirds of Iraq’s ancient Christian community had been made homeless. Before the US war in 2003, there were an estimated 800,000 Christians in Iraq.