Iraqi, Kurdish Governments Reach Deal Over Yazidi Town | Voice of America

The Iraqi government has reached a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over security in the northern city of Sinjar, Iraqi officials said Friday. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi “sponsored a historic agreement which will strengthen the federal authority in Sinjar based on the constitution in terms of governance and security,” Kadhimi’s spokesperson Ahmad Mulla Talal said on Twitter.

The agreement “ends the authority of intruding groups and paves the way for the reconstruction of the city and the full return of its people in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government,” Talal added.

Sinjar, home to the Yazidi religious minority, was seized by the Islamic State (IS) in 2014 when the terror group carried out a genocidal campaign against the Yazidis, killing many men and enslaving thousands of Yazidi women and girls. 

Nearly 3,000 kidnapped women and girls are still missing after many were trafficked and enslaved in other IS-held territory, according to the U.N.