19 NOVEMBER 1991, NOTES COMPILED BY JULIE HACKING, GRAPHIC NEWS ©

KURDISH TOWNS UNDER ATTACK

Saddam Hussein’s forces are once again attacking the Kurdish population in the north of Iraq, driving them from their homes at gunpoint only seven months after John Major’s ‘safe haven’ plan promised the Kurds a more secure future.
Saddam’s forces have massed along a 400km (250 mile) stretch bordering the autonomous region designated in March after the Kurdish uprising, from Zakho in the far north of the country near the Turkish border, to Khanaqin in the south-east of the region, near Iran. 
Ali Abdullah, commander of the Kurdish Peshmerga guerrillas, claimed that three-quarters of the population of the town of Kalar, between 9-15,000 people, had fled to three camps near the Iranian border, about 15 miles away. In total, approximately 35,000 Kurds are reported to have fled from numerous towns and villages.
Iraqi tanks have rolled into villages surrounding Sulaymaniyah and Arbil, major Kurdish cities both with a population of about 500,000. Residents of the villages were given 24 hours to evacuate their homes. Most were not permitted to take belongings or vehicles.Those who resisted were promptly arrested. 
Shelling was reported in three towns, Bariga, Noujul and Sayedan, on Sunday and Monday. The attacks break a ceasefire agreed only last week between Saddam’s forces and Kurdish guerrillas. The Kurds had withdrawn from several cities in return for the lifting of a two week blockade on food and fuel imposed by the government. Rebel leader Massoud Barzani vowed to fight back if the attacks continued.
It was feared that Saddam Hussein would not honour agreements with the Kurds. The area around Kirkuk in particular was an area where Saddam was determined not to relinquish his hold. This and other Kurdish areas are rich in oil or agricultural land. Saddam has given cash and land to non-Kurdish Iraqis in an attempt to ‘Arabise’ the area.
The majority of the combined forces from Western countries who returned the Kurds to their homes earlier this year left the area in July, but a small contingent of allied troops remain, stationed across the border in Turkey.  They have as yet taken no action. As winter approaches, it would appear that once again that many Kurds are facing the prospect of living unprotected on the mountainsides.

Sources: Associated Press, BBC