UN Iraq envoy reviews reconstruction options for bomb-devastated Sinjar region

The top United Nations official in Iraq has taken a first-hand look at the devastation in the northern Sinjar region where coordinated bombings on a single day last month killed hundreds of people and left many more wounded, reviewing several long-term reconstruction options.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Ashraf Qazi visited the town of Al Qahtaniyah to talk to the survivors. Accompanied by staff members from the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and UN agencies, he met with the Governor and Deputy Governor of Mosul, the town mayor and a large section of the Yezidi population that had been directly affected by the attacks.

He listened to their complaints, discussed their most urgent needs and examined ways in which the UN could help them. He then addressed a town hall meeting in the presence of the municipal council, tribal sheiks and notables representing the stricken areas.

Mr. Qazi discussed with them UN emergency humanitarian assistance that had already been distributed and long-term reconstruction options, including the possibility of relocating citizens back to their original villages from which they had been forcibly removed.