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Iraqi Kurdistan: Grim camps for Iraqis
avoid the "pull factor"
2.8.2007
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August 2, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Refugee workers call it the "pull factor" -- camps
with conditions comfortable enough to attract people
in a country where an average of 60,000 Iraqis a
month are driven from their homes by sectarian
violence.
So the challenge for aid workers is to provide safe
havens that do not invite permanence. The Qawala
camp on the outskirts of Sulaimaniyah in northern
Kurdistan, a haven of stability in a treacherous
country, fits the bill.
Conditions are unlikely to pull in all but the most
desperate.
You smell the camp before you enter it -- the stench
caused by the absence of proper latrines and the
lack of running water. There is no kerosene for
cooking and no electricity.
A collection of huts made up of blankets and
cardboard, it houses 97 families or 470 people, all
Sunni Arabs who left Baghdad and Diyala and Babel
provinces because they feared they would be killed
by Shi'ites in the mixed neighborhoods that were
home.
"This was my son," said Abela Abbas, showing a death
certificate that listed the age of the deceased as
22. "He was shot in (the Baghdad Shi'ite district
of) Khadimiya, where he worked. After that, we
left."
The Iraq picture is grimly familiar: more than 4
million people driven from their homes since the
2003 U.S. liberation, according to aid
organizations. Some two million fled to neighboring
countries.
In a report on deteriorating conditions in Iraq
since the invasion, relief organization Oxfam
International said late in July that almost a third
of the population needed humanitarian assistance but
hunger and unemployment were particularly acute
among the estimated 2.2 million internally
displaced.
Still, no one wants them to settle in permanent
camps.
Water in Qawala is held in aluminum tanks that are
replenished by a Spanish aid agency: Sulaimaniyah
authorities are determined not to turn Qawala into a
permanent camp, aid workers say.
"They fear the so-called pull factor," said Rosina
Ynzenga of Solidarity International de Andalusia (SIA)
-- which is providing the water.
At a June 24 meeting between aid organizations and
the Deputy Governor of Sulaimaniyah, Jutiar Nouri,
the 'pull factor' was mentioned and, according to
the minutes, the deputy governor gave the green
light to tents and latrines -- as long as they were
temporary and could be removed after the camp
dwellers go.
Similar "pull factor" concerns are keeping a
settlement at Kanakh, off the road between the
cities of Erbil-Hewler and Mosul, in conditions
similar to those at Qawala. The Khanakh camp houses
about 50 Kurdish families driven out of Mosul, where
the population is a volatile mix of Kurds and Sunni
Arabs.
Both Qawala and Kanakh are inside the three
provinces run by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG),
whose semi-independent Kurdistan region has become
an oasis of stability in Iraq and a destination for
Iraqis seeking shelter.
But getting into Kurdistan is becoming very
difficult for non-Kurds -- many are stopped and
turned back at checkpoints on all access roads --
and the welcome for those already inside, such as
the residents at the Qawala settlement, is wearing
thin.
After complaints from Sulaimaniyah citizens and
local radio reports of rising thefts, robberies and
other crimes, Qawala residents have been banned from
leaving their camp and going into town or its
markets on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
To show they are good citizens, they follow a
self-imposed curfew after dark, when camp dwellers
patrol the perimeter to make sure no one heads into
Sulaimaniyah.
"We are seeing a rising number of internally
displaced Iraqis turning up in spontaneous camps and
settlements in Iraq," said Ron Redmond, spokesman
for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. "It is something
that has just started in the last six months."
"Most communities are trying to be as receptive as
they can to people in need," Redmond said.
Jemini Pandya, a spokeswoman for the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM), said camps are
generally seen as undesirable because of their poor
infrastructure for water and other essential
services, and because residents tend to be exposed
to extreme weather and security threats.
"They are the least viable option. Camps become
extremely expensive for authorities to run and
maintain," she said.
Reuters
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