Iraqi farmers desperate to go home as cattle perish

MOSUL: In a field off a main road south of Mosul, a stray dog picked at the body of a dead buffalo calf, part of an exhausted herd brought 20 miles on foot by farmers forced to abandon their land in the fight against Daesh.
The men and their families fled Badush, to the northwest of Mosul, some two weeks ago as the Iraqi Army and Shiite paramilitary forces fought Daesh militants.
The cattle the farmers have managed to salvage and thousands more left in their village untended will soon perish if they do not move home soon, they say.
So far, attempts at return have been blocked.
Army officials and the Shiite forces now in control of Badush say it is not safe for residents to live there.
The farmers insist it is, and suspect political motives or sectarian score-settling by Shiite militias in an area where Daesh executed hundreds of Shiites in 2014.
Either way, the effect of war on their livestock, and livelihood, could be equally devastating.
“You can see the animals are beginning to starve. There is no proper food for them here and the water they are drinking is dirty. Several of the younger ones have died,” farmer Zuheir, 32, said pointing toward the calf’s carcass.
Several dozen buffaloes drank from and bathed in the nearest source of water, a stagnant pool polluted with petrol.
The farmers, who had walked across the desert for two days with their herd, were squatting in rural homes abandoned by people who had fled fighting around Mosul. Many others from Badush are living in a crowded displaced people’s camp further south.
They initially fled leaving all the animals behind as Iraqi forces attacked the village to drive out Daesh.
Since then, a few men have been allowed to collect some of the buffaloes, but were only given an hour to do it.
“We need two days to round them up properly and make sure we can take care of them,” another farmer, Ahmed Ibrahim, 48, said.
The more than 10,000 buffalo of Badush were a key source of meat and dairy products in western Mosul. On a recent trip to Badush, Reuters saw some dead buffaloes and hundreds more roaming the village.
The farmers are relieved to be rid of Daesh, and thankful to the Iraqi forces that have moved in.
Some fear long-term exile, however, saying Shiite forces are blocking their return.
“It’s revenge on Sunnis. We will never be able to return. No officials are interested in us and the Hashid Shaabi (Shiite forces) want to keep Badush,” Ahmed Taha, a Badush resident living at the camp, said.