[Media-watch] Refugees: urgent need northern + central Iraq - 2 humanitarian reports

[Sigi D]

Dear MW friends,
Here are two articles concentrating on the situation
of refugees from the website of 
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
You can subscribe and get emails from them.
Which might be a good idea because the theme of
refugees is nonexistent with our macho testosterone
filled embedded journalists who liberate empty towns
in Iraq with the boys.

The following is about the situation of refugees in
central Iraq (24.11.04)
the second link is about the situation in Kirkuk.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44325&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis
http://www.plusnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44325&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis
IRAQ: Reports of refugees fleeing al-Tash camp	
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations]
ANKARA, 24 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - There are concerns for
some 1,400 refugees who have reportedly fled from the
al-Tash camp in central Iraq following recent fighting
around the city of Ramadi, the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told
IRIN on Wednesday.
The camp, which recently hosted some 4,200 Iranian
Kurds, is located in the area of Ramadi, roughly 110
km from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and near the city
of Fallujah, which has been under attack by US-led
troops for over two weeks since Iraqi Prime Minister,
Iyad Allwai, gave the go-ahead for a major offensive
to flush out insurgents there.
"This is linked with the conflicts in Fallujah and in
Ramadi. The camp is not very far from Ramadi,"
Mohammed Adar, officer in charge for UNHCRís Iraq
office, told IRIN from the Jordanian capital, Amman,
expressing concern over the locations of the refugees.

"We are also worried for the people remaining in the
camp," Adar said. He added that Iraqi Kurds in the
area were also leaving and noted that 300 families had
recently arrived in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq.
The UNHCR official explained that some local services,
such as water and electricity, had been cut off and
that the delivery of food had become difficult due to
insecurity in the area. 
"We understand that the police checkpoint at the camp
was attacked," he said, adding that their partners in
Iraq were having access problems to the camp as the
road was too dangerous.
"Most of them are not taking their furniture and
belongings. That means that they [the refugees] made a
very hasty exit from the camp," Adar asserted. 
And, according to UNHCR's partners in the field, 30 to
35 percent of the camp's population fled al-Tash late
last week, he added. 
The camp was established under the former government
in the mid-1980s to gather the Iranian ethnic Kurds in
the country in one place. It houses Iranians who left
their country after the fall of the Shah ñ the former
king of Iran - in 1979, and during the 1980-88
Iraq-Iran war.
"We understand that some families left for
Sulaymaniyah in the north. Since they are ethnically
Kurds, they are trying to reach their friends and
relatives there," he said.
Meanwhile, through its partners, the UN refugee agency
is attempting to reach those arriving in the north in
order to find out when they left the al-Tash camp and
what the circumstances of their departure were.

However, the UNHCR official noted that there were many
groups of refugees scattered in the country. "Another
possibility was that people had gone to no-man's land
[on the Jordanian-Iraqi border]. Our regional office
is investigating and we have no information so far on
whether there are any arrivals there. But we are
monitoring the situation carefully," Adar said.
He added that if this turned out to be the case, UNHCR
was ready to receive new refugees, although he noted
that as winter was coming and weather conditions would
be difficult in no-man's land, many of them could have
opted to go to northern Iraq.
[ENDS]
http://www.plusnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44325&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis
http://www.plusnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44325&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis
RAQ: IRCS in Kirkuk needs urgent supplies

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations]

©  IRIN

The IRCS at work in Kirkuk.

KIRKUK, 25 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - A branch of the Iraqi Red
Crescent Society (IRCS) in the northern city of Kirkuk
is in desperate need of materials due to a rise in
displacement around the city and is asking for help
from other NGOs and the Iraqi government. 
"We need urgent help with blankets and oil heaters as
the situation is getting critical with the start of
winter," IRCS spokesman, Nuri al-Salihi, told IRIN
from Kirkuk.
With a total of 200 volunteers, this branch has seen
its supplies of medicine, food and communication
equipment such as computers and telephones, dwindle at
an increasing rate since last May, which is severely
hampering its ability to work. 
Dr Yasmin Abdul-Waheed al-Muhami, president of the
IRCS-Kirkuk branch told IRIN that there were a large
number of displaced people in the area, with some
17,000 homeless people living in tents or in former
government buildings, as land disputes between the
Kurds and Arabs continue. 
This has placed a huge strain on resources. Kurdish
people thrown out of the oil-rich city under Saddam
Hussein's regime are returning to claim homes and land
causing the displacement.
IRCS workers in Kirkuk added that the organisation's
main office in Baghdad has not been able to offer
assistance either as it is putting all of its
resources into current conflicts in the central region
such as that in Fallujah. 
According to the organisation, there are about 8,785
people in total in Kirkuk receiving assistance from
them, including the disabled, orphans, cancer patients
and divorced women without financial support. 
Aid workers say the last batch of assistance sent to
the organisation were tents from the International
Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and medicine from the
Red Crescent of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Emirates, but
that was last year immediately after the war.
As part of its ongoing assistance, the IRCS operates
from the local medical centre in the city helping
people learn how to prevent diseases and protect
themselves against unexploded ordnance (UXOs), left in
Kirkuk after the recent conflict, damaged electrical
wires and fire. Al-Muhami explained that their work
also included teaching first aid to those interested
and issuing certificates to those who participate.
In addition, nearly 20 volunteers at different medical
centres in the town have been explaining hygiene
issues to patients focusing on the importance of
boiling water and how to prevent common diseases,
particularly to those who have been made homeless. 
Volunteers also claim that there is not enough
furniture in the centre and there are no vehicles for
transportation, so staff are using their own cars.
The spokeswoman for the IRCS main centre in Baghdad,
Firdoos Al-Abadi, told IRIN that the situation was
critical in all areas. "The need is general and not
only in that branch and we will always assist
according to what we can get," she added.
But for the people of Kirkuk, help can't come soon
enough as they wait for supplies. "They are so helpful
to us. They are patient and kind and I think that if
they could do more for us they would," Fateh Kubaissy,
a homeless Arab living in a tent on the outskirts of
the city, told IRIN.
[ENDS]


		
___________________________________________________________ 
Moving house? Beach bar in Thailand? New Wardrobe? Win £10k with Yahoo! Mail to make your dream a reality. 
Get Yahoo! Mail www.yahoo.co.uk/10k