Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

IRAQ: IDPs enticed to vacate southern camp
15 Dec 2008 23:20:41 GMT
 Source: IRIN

Background

•  Iraq in turmoil

MORE >>
BAGHDAD, 15 December 2008 (IRIN) - Over 1,200 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the southern province of Najaf are to receive financial aid in return for leaving an IDP camp 20km south of Najaf city.

"It has been decided by the Ministry of Displacement and Migration and Najaf provincial council to offer an amount of five million Iraqi dinars [about US$4,250] to each family in al-Manathira camp to help them return to their houses or find new places to live," Mashkour al-Mousawi, head of the Ministry's Najaf office said.

Al-Mousawi said 126 out of 213 families (1,278 individuals) in the camp had asked to return to their homes due to the improved security situation and would get their payment before the end of the month. The remaining 87 families had demanded more than the allocated amount, al-Mousawi said.

In July the local authorities said a committee had been established to check the files of those families claiming to be IDPs - to weed out bogus claimants. However, once the news reached the camp, the families started a sit-in which lasted many days and complicated matters.

"There was no pressure from any quarter to force these families to leave the camp against their will," al-Mousawi told IRIN. "They are just fed up with camp life."

Al-Mousawi said the authorities would offer free transport to those wishing to return to their homes - mainly in Sunni-dominated areas north, west and south of Baghdad, but he ruled out any increase in financial assistance.

IDPs in poor shape

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in Najaf has praised the move, saying it will help the families concerned and allow the authorities to focus on about 6,000 IDPs scattered throughout the province.

"Despite the fact that some families are living in fibreglass caravans, the situation in the camp has deteriorated. People there need psychological and health rehabilitation," Dhia Zoain, the IRCS head in Najaf, told IRIN from her office.

"The government aid will allow them to re-start their lives in their home areas and help us to focus on other IDPs in the province," Zoain said, adding that since the camp was set up in mid-2006 the IRCS had been contributing financial, food and non-food assistance.

Ali al-Khafaji, a 38-year old father-of-three, one of the IDPs who had asked for increased aid, said the amount being offered was not enough, given the high cost of land and construction materials: "This amount can't help us. We presented a request to the authorities and parliament to increase the amount to at least seven million Iraqi dinars [about $5,950] to help us rebuild our damaged houses."

Iraq has an estimated two million IDPs and a further two million Iraqis live abroad as asylum-seekers or refugees.

sm/at/cb

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Refugees & displacement

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Iraq in turmoil

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  MAG's Conventional Weapons Management & Disposal programmes
MAG - UK

•  Colombia: Deadly Avalanches Strike, ADRA Responds
ADRA - International

•  Hollywood Charity Not On Our Watch Donates $260K to International Rescue Committee Health Programs in Darfur
International Rescue Committee

•  Zimbabwe cholera epidemic 'worsening' says aid agency
Save the Children UK

•  Calm before the storm in Congo - Ian Bray
Oxfam GB - UK

MORE >>

Latest news

•  IRAQ: IDPs enticed to vacate southern camp

•  US costs of Iraq, Afghan wars top $900 bln -report

•  UNHCR steps up support in Burundi as record numbers return

•  Cost of UK war in Afghanistan to rise 54 pct-report

•  Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter becomes the talk of Iraq

MORE >>

IRIN news

Background information

Briefings
Iraq in turmoil - [Who works where]

Topics
Refugees & displacement
Facts & figures
Iraq
Statistics graphs
Landmine casualties (2004)
Chart for Landmine casualties
View more stats

Related articles

Breaking stories
 IRAQ: IDPs enticed to vacate southern camp (1 minute ago)

US costs of Iraq, Afghan wars top $900 bln -report (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 Island nations slam slow U.N. progress on climate adaptation (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 MAG's Conventional Weapons Management & Disposal programmes (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Enduring exile: The plight of long-term refugees (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Uganda, Rwanda & Burundi: Population movement (as of 5 dec 2008) (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-09T004236Z_01_BAG004_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ-BASRA-ELECTIONS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG004.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-09T004128Z_01_BAG003_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ-ELECTIONS-BASRA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG003.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-09T003929Z_01_BAG005_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ-ELECTIONS-BASRA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG005.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-09T002447Z_01_BAG001_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ-ELECTIONS-BASRA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG001.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-09T001956Z_01_BAG002_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ-ELECTIONS-BASRA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG002.htm

Women buy fish at a market in Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad November 26, 2008. For the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraqis ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Mon Dec 15 23:21:28 2008