Iraq: fearing famine, patriarch calls for return of confiscated fields to Christians
September 02, 2014
In a letter to Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako expressed concern that the Christian-owned agricultural fields of the Nineveh plains are under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“Even though emergency measures have been undertaken to prevent further massacre … no effort is being made to recover” the fields, the patriarch said in a letter. “Winter is only a month away; those lands need to be tended to as soon as possible, or else the ghost of famine will start its quick march.”
The patriarch added that Iraq’s Christians “look for international protection” and are “ready to defend themselves” with the help of the Kurdish army and an “international peace force.”
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