BY No Author | October 6 2014 | 
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‘Our people have been abandoned,’ says Iraqi archbishop
Publication Date: 2014-10-06
The Iraqi government is not helping Christians desperate to flee Islamic State militia, according to a leading Catholic bishop from the country who says the task of aiding Christians had fallen almost exclusively to the Church
Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil (above) said Iraq’s national government in Baghdad ‘has done nothing, absolutely nothing’ for 120,000 Christians seeking sanctuary away from areas terrorised by the extremists.
Archbishop Warda said displaced Christians in his diocese and the nearby Dohuk region were becoming increasingly concerned for the future two months after leaving their homes in Mosul and the Niniveh Plains. As IS forces advanced, they fled at a moment’s notice leaving all their belongings behind.
The archbishop added that Muslim leaders had failed to give an unequivocal condemnation of the violence carried out in the name of Islam which had resulted in the ejection of all Christians from their ancient, Muslim, Muslim, leaders. Citing instances of long-time Muslims neighbours looting the homes of Christians who had fled their homes, Archbishop Warda said many of his faithful felt ‘betrayed’ and were now more likely to flee the country.
In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Archbishop Warda said: “The reality is that Christians have received no support from the central government. They have done nothing for them, absolutely nothing.
“Usually, the central government is the first to take responsibility for helping people forced to leave their homes. The central government is to blame. It has not fulfilled its commitment to the people.”
He added that: “The government in Baghdad received a lot of help from the international community for the displaced people from Mosul and Nineveh but there has been no sign of it here.”
He said Baghdad was helping Muslim displaced people but not Christians and that the Kurdish Regional Government in Erbil had made it clear from the start of the crisis that it could offer no financial assistance because since January 1 2014 it had stopped receiving subsidies from Baghdad.
Archbishop Warda, who alongside other bishops has coordinated a relief programme of food and emergency housing for the displaced people, said the task of aiding Christians had fallen almost exclusively to the Church.
“We will never forget the voices of solidarity that we received from day one of this tragedy,” he said. “Church agencies have been here helping us since day one and they remain with the people long after the headlines have moved on to something different.”
He praised organisations such as Aid to the Church in Need which is providing emergency food, accommodation and other basic help for displaced Christians.
Archbishop Warda added: “The crisis concerning Christians in Mosul and Nineveh is not just a shock. It is, for us, a genocide. All voices have acknowledged that it was a crime against humanity.”
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