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Aid to the Church in Need, UK
World News

Hope for displaced Christian Iraqis

by Eno Adeogun

More than 600 displaced Christian families from Kurdish communities are returning home after being driven out of their towns and villages in northern Iraq by the jihadist group.

Syriac Catholic Archbishop Petros Mouche told Christian charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that people have already started to rebuild their lives.

He said: "Some have found work or started restaurants, shops and trade businesses. It takes a lot of courage to start from scratch again.

"For us Syriac Catholic Christians in Iraq, liberation is of course a cause for great joy because the vast majority of my diocese was staying in the environs of Mosul and in Qaraqosh."

Syriac Catholics made up 60 per cent of 150,000 Christians and others forced to flee to Erbil from the Nineveh Plains and Mosul due to violence from ISIS.

Aid to the Church in Need

An ACN survey showed there is damage and destruction to nearly 13,000 dwellings across nine predominantly Christian villages in Nineveh.

Despite this, the Iraqi archbishop spoke of a "great hope that life will begin all over again".

ACN announced this month that it is giving £400,000 to help the displaced people in the Nineveh Plains.

Archbishop Mouche also highlighted the need to change the mind-set of those attracted to Islamist extremism.

ADF International

He added: "We have to be able to live together. We are all sick of war. Wars have been fought in Iraq off and on since 1958. We have to learn how to live in peace."

Regina Lynch, ACN's Head of Projects, said: "This is a crucial moment in the history of the Iraqi Christians and we must support those who are now returning to their villages as much as we can.

"At the same time, we must pray for reconciliation in order to lay a new foundation that ensures a future for the Christians in Iraq."

Listen to Premier's Eno Adegoun speaking with Dr John Newton from the Aid to the Church in Need:

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