More Iraqis flee from violence

2007-08-28 18:39

Geneva - More than four million Iraqis have fled their homes because of sectarian violence, the largest population movement in the Middle East since Palestinians left the new state of Israel, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

"An estimated 4.2 million Iraqis have been uprooted from their homes, with the monthly rate of displacement climbing to over 60 000 people compared to 50 000 previously," UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told journalists.

More than two million Iraqis are displaced within their own country, with around half being uprooted following the February 2006 Samarra bombings, seen as the catalyst for the latest wave of sectarian conflict, the UNHCR said.

"Many are barely surviving in makeshift camps, inaccessible to aid workers for security reasons," Pagonis warned.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, and Pagonis said many families were "choosing to leave ethnically mixed areas before they are forced to do so".

More than 1.4 million have crossed into neighbouring Syria with between 500 000 and 750 000 heading into Jordan, the UNHCR said.

The UNHCR and UN children's agency Unicef have jointly appealed for help in paying for the education of 155 000 Iraqi refugee children, putting forward a figure of $129m to get them into schools for the 2007-2008 academic years.

This would allow 100 000 to go to school in Syria, 50 000 in Jordan, 2 000 in Egypt, 1 500 in Lebanon and 1 500 in other regional countries.

Coinciding with the refugee agency's latest figures of an ever-growing exodus from Iraq, the United States announced it was giving $30m to the joint UNHCR-Unicef education initiative.

Washington, which led the 2003 war on Iraq, has however been widely criticised for not doing enough in accepting Iraqi refugees waiting in Syria and Jordan for asylum in third countries.

Forgotten people

Only 133 Iraqi refugees have been allowed into the United States since October, US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said in July, blaming the slow pace on rigorous security vetting of candidates for resettlement.

The number of Iraqi asylum seekers in Europe in the first half of 2007 rose to nearly 20 000, the same number received during the whole of 2006, according to the UNHCR.

Both Damascus and Amman have spoken of the burden posed by the refugees on their infrastructure.

Jordan has said that sheltering the influx costs the kingdom about$1bn a year.

The Christian relief organisation World Vision on Tuesday described the Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria as "forgotten people", and called international aid agencies their "only hope".

- AFP