IRAQ: Minister of Immigration & Displacement visits Syriac Chaldean bishop Warda in Ankawa in praise for Church aid to IDPs

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ANKAWA / ERBIL, Iraq – Syriac Chaldean Minister of Immigration and Displacement Mrs. Evan Faeq Jabro visited the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian town of Ankawa, Erbil, where she visited the Cathedral of St Joseph, the seat of the Syriac Chaldean Catholic archdiocese of Erbil which is headed by Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda.

Archbishop Warda guided Minister Jabro on a tour of the church. The diocese and associated IDP-center, eleven schools and eight churches hosted more than 13,200 displaced families from the Nineveh Plain after the 2014 occupation of the Nineveh Plain by terrorist organization ISIS. Less than half of the IDP families have returned to their homes.

Minister Jabro praised the efforts of the bishops, priests and aid workers of the Syriac Chaldean Church in supporting the IDP families. Archbishop Warda emphasized that the churches have worked and encouraged the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian IDPs to return to their towns and villages in the Nineveh Plain and Mosul. The Nineveh Plain and Mosul were liberated in 2017. He said that “our returnee programs were a great catalyst for the return of many of the forcefully displaced families by providing them with financial support and compensation, sometimes only with a fraction of their lost household furniture and property.”

In June Minister Jabro visited the Nineveh Plain together with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Also there she mostly visited Syriac Church leaders and no Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian leaders of political parties which adds to the speculations who put forward Mrs. Evan Faeq Jabro for the Minister role. This is somewhat shrouded in mystery.

IRAQ: Minister of Immigration & Displacement visits Syriac Chaldean bishop Warda in Ankawa in praise for Church aid to IDPs