Iraq violence displaces 150,000: UN
The Subtance
Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:50 AM ET
By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The number of displaced people in Iraq has swelled by 150,000 since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in February pushed the country to the brink of civil war, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday.
The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) put the number of displaced higher than the 130,386 estimate of registered internal refugees given by the Ministry of Displacement and Migration on Monday.
"It is estimated that 1.3 million individuals are displaced inside Iraq, nearly 5 percent of the country's total population," said a UNAMI statement.
"While many were displaced as long ago as the early 1980s, the last four months of increasing violence and relentless sectarian tensions have resulted in the displacement of a further 150,000 individuals."
The grim assessment came two days after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki unveiled a reconciliation plan aimed at tackling the Sunni Arab insurgency and easing sectarian bloodshed.
In fresh violence, a car bomb exploded at a petrol station in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing at least three people and wounding 21, police said.
Police said the death toll climbed to 18 from a blast on Monday near a market in the Shiite village of Khairnabat, near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Three policemen were killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in southeastern Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources said.
SYSTEMATIC BLOODSHED
While bombings claim lives nearly every day, systematic sectarian killings force Iraqis to flee their homes, causing demographic upheaval in a country where many districts are a mix of Shiites and Sunnis and other communities.
The figure of 150,000 displaced does not include those who have sought refuge with relatives or fled abroad.
Already a problem due to the post-war anarchy, the refugee crisis worsened after the February 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the town of Samarra. That set off reprisals and pushed Iraq close to a full-blown communal conflict.
"Displacement since the February 22 bombing of the Samarra shrine has equally affected all of Iraq's diverse communities on a nationwide basis," said UNAMI.
The problem has been likened to the "ethnic cleansing" of the Balkans in the 1990s.
Sectarian violence, which kills 30-50 people a day in Baghdad alone, has forced Sunnis to flee north and Shiites to head south, finding safety in numbers in areas heavily populated by their own sectarian groups.
Some fear the Tigris River, between mainly Shiite east and Sunni west Baghdad, could become a frontline like Beirut's 1980s "Green Line" if Maliki fails to stop the killings.
U.S. and Iraqi military operations in the western Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi also forced families to flee.
"In the last fortnight alone, 3,200 families have fled Ramadi to neighboring towns as a result of the military operations there," said UNAMI.
((Editing by Janet Lawrence)
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-06-27T104948Z_01_L20719326_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ.xml&archived=False
The number of displaced people in Iraq has swelled by 150,000 since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in February pushed the country to the brink of civil war, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday.Iraq violence displaces 150,000: UN
"It is estimated that 1.3 million individuals are displaced inside Iraq, nearly 5 percent of the country's total population," said a [U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq] statement.
Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:50 AM ET
By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The number of displaced people in Iraq has swelled by 150,000 since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in February pushed the country to the brink of civil war, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday.
The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) put the number of displaced higher than the 130,386 estimate of registered internal refugees given by the Ministry of Displacement and Migration on Monday.
"It is estimated that 1.3 million individuals are displaced inside Iraq, nearly 5 percent of the country's total population," said a UNAMI statement.
"While many were displaced as long ago as the early 1980s, the last four months of increasing violence and relentless sectarian tensions have resulted in the displacement of a further 150,000 individuals."
The grim assessment came two days after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki unveiled a reconciliation plan aimed at tackling the Sunni Arab insurgency and easing sectarian bloodshed.
In fresh violence, a car bomb exploded at a petrol station in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing at least three people and wounding 21, police said.
Police said the death toll climbed to 18 from a blast on Monday near a market in the Shiite village of Khairnabat, near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Three policemen were killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in southeastern Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources said.
SYSTEMATIC BLOODSHED
While bombings claim lives nearly every day, systematic sectarian killings force Iraqis to flee their homes, causing demographic upheaval in a country where many districts are a mix of Shiites and Sunnis and other communities.
The figure of 150,000 displaced does not include those who have sought refuge with relatives or fled abroad.
Already a problem due to the post-war anarchy, the refugee crisis worsened after the February 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the town of Samarra. That set off reprisals and pushed Iraq close to a full-blown communal conflict.
"Displacement since the February 22 bombing of the Samarra shrine has equally affected all of Iraq's diverse communities on a nationwide basis," said UNAMI.
The problem has been likened to the "ethnic cleansing" of the Balkans in the 1990s.
Sectarian violence, which kills 30-50 people a day in Baghdad alone, has forced Sunnis to flee north and Shiites to head south, finding safety in numbers in areas heavily populated by their own sectarian groups.
Some fear the Tigris River, between mainly Shiite east and Sunni west Baghdad, could become a frontline like Beirut's 1980s "Green Line" if Maliki fails to stop the killings.
U.S. and Iraqi military operations in the western Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi also forced families to flee.
"In the last fortnight alone, 3,200 families have fled Ramadi to neighboring towns as a result of the military operations there," said UNAMI.
((Editing by Janet Lawrence)
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-06-27T104948Z_01_L20719326_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ.xml&archived=False
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