Demonstrations outside a UN-office in Erbil, with demands for a security zone in the Nineveh Plains.

Carl Bildt, it is not enough!

A couple of days ago I criticized the Swedish government in the Swedish newspaper Dagen. I called the silence of Carl Bildt, the Minister of Foreign affairs, regarding the atrocities in Nineveh shameful. He has since responded several times. The first time was on Swedish Radio P3, national public radio, where he was countered by Assyrian activist Kara Hermez. And now, on his own blog, Carl states:

“Yesterday on P3, I discussed the situation facing the various minorities in northern Iraq and the situation of the Assyrian Christians in particular. That their situation has dramatically deteriorated since ISIL took control over the Nineveh-area, where they have existed for thousands of years, there are now many accounts of. Of course this will be condemned, and of course we are [condemning it], but it is a tragic fact that this scarcely affects the ISIL-terrorists’ sweep against all those who believe or think differently. Even though it may appear frustrating, slow and inefficient, it is all we can do to give our political support to the diplomacy that is now attempting to prepare the way for a broadened, stronger and more representative government in Baghdad, which can step by step mobilize support from various Sunni-movements which can then lead to the forced retreat of ISIL. We do not have the capability to send our own army there to stop the terrorists’ advance.”

My answer, Carl Bildt: it is not enough. We are about to be exterminated. Show the same courage as your Swedish predecessors — heroes in matters like this. I have been a proud Swede since the age of eight: I believe in Sweden and its diplomacy and I expect more from my minister of foreign affairs. The election is coming up in Sweden; the Moderate Party has many members with roots in the ethnic people who are being persecuted. I will personally make sure that you don’t get a single vote if you continue to ramble instead of acting.

Sweden could be the first country in the UN to advocate the establishment of a safe-zone in the Nineveh Plains. A permanent solution. You don’t want to see a new Rwanda. Before that catastrophe, Kofi Annan called on many countries to stop an imminent genocide, and was almost accused of being dogmatic. A few weeks later, killing began that would end in the butchering of 1,000,000 children, women and men. We demand a safe-zone for Assyrians and other minorities in the Nineveh Plains — a semi-autonomous province — so they can guarantee their security and control their own destiny. And we urge you to contribute to its realization.

You know very well that when the government in a country is not able to protect its people, which is the case in Iraq, the obligation is transferred to member states of the UN. Will you encourage other countries to protect the minorities of the Nineveh Plains? “Sweden is a humanitarian superpower,” you often write and say, and in many regards I agree with you. Now show the superpower you possess.