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November 5th,
2007 - Iraqis Fleeing Homes in Droves: Red Crescent |
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Iraqis Fleeing
Homes in Droves: Red Crescent By Agence France Presse November 5, 2007 Baghdad - Iraqis are fleeing
their homes in droves and the number of displaced within the war-torn country
has reached almost 2.3 million, most of them women and children, the Iraqi
Red Crescent said. The organisation's latest
report, obtained by AFP on Monday, said 368,479 people had left their homes
to escape sectarian violence in September alone. This brings the total number
of internally displaced Iraqis to 2,299,425 since the US-led invasion in
2003, it said, adding that most of these urgently need basic care. At least another two million
Iraqis have fled abroad - mainly to neighbouring countries, according to UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) figures published in August. Children make up 65.3
percent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and women account for 18.6
percent of the total, the Iraqi Red Crescent report said. Most internally displaced
Iraqis - 63.6 percent or 1,462,468 people - are in 16 camps within Baghdad
province, the report said. Of these, 88.3 percent are women and children. "In addition to their
plight as being displaced, the majority suffer from disease, poverty and
malnutrition," it said. "Children do not attend
schools and are being sheltered in tents, abandoned government buildings with
no water or electricity, mosques, churches, or with relatives." The bulk of families who
have fled their homes have also lost their incomes and are battling to find
work. "Most IDP families are
poor with very limited income, which makes it impossible to meet the basic
needs (food, clothing, shelter and fuel) of its members. These families are
increasingly becoming dependent on humanitarian aid," the report said. Children face difficulties
in transferring their official documents to schools in their new
neighbourhoods, which are becoming overcrowded because of the influx. "This is in addition to
the psycho-social problems resulting from becoming displaced." The trigger for the exodus
was the bombing of a Shiite shrine in the holy city of Samarra in February
2006, which unleashed a wave of sectarian violence that has killed tens of
thousands of Iraqis. "Thousands of Shiites
had fled Sunni areas and vice versa. Christians also fled from Sunni areas to
Kurdistan. "These recent events,
in addition to decades of severe oppression and sanctions fractured the
integrity of the civil order and society in Iraq," the report said. In September, the northern
Kurdish region, long regarded as a safe haven for fleeing Iraqis because of
its relative stability, was also affected by violence. "Both the Iranians and
Turkish military were bombarding the border villages with artillery shells
for days and weeks," the report said, referring to barrages aimed at
camps of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). "Thousands of villagers
left their homes and migrated inland for fear of their lives thus compounding
the refugee problems in Kurdistan." The majority of displaced in
the Shiite-majority south of Iraq, as to be expected, are Shiites, while
Sunni Arabs account for most of the IDPs in the predominantly Sunni north. "Arbil and Dahuk
governorates (in the Kurdish region) have witnessed more population movement
among the Christians," the report said. The exodus of Iraqis from
their homes is the largest population movement in the Middle East since
Palestinians left the new state of Israel in 1948. Copyright © 2007 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvgpAHJjESsglu9hjWzaGsZj60LA |