Aid agencies warn of continuing crisis in Iraq

The humanitarian crisis in Iraq remains complex and highly dangerous for hundreds of thousands of people, even after the lifting of the Islamic State (Isis) siege of Mount Sinjar, aid officials in northern Iraq warned yesterday.

On Wednesday night, the UN declared its highest level of emergency for the crisis facing the 1.2 million people displaced by fighting this year in Iraq, putting it on a par with Syria, South Sudan and Central African Republic.

Land corridor

US air strikes and Kurdish military efforts on the ground have opened up a land corridor from Mount Sinjar.

This has allowed tens of thousands of trapped Kurds from the Yazidi religious minority to escape from Islamic State militants and head to safety in Syria and then to the Kurdistan region. But the sheer number of people on the move is posing serious humanitarian problems.

Since August 6th, an estimated 80,000 Yazidis and other religious minorities have fled to Syria to escape the Islamic State and then crossed the Iraqi border at Peshkhabour into the Dohuk governorate of Kurdistan, the poorest part of the Kurdish autonomous region.

The UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) is establishing four camps in the governorate, one of which was full until recently of Syrian refugees. The UNHCR is bringing in tents and basic supplies by road from the Kurdish capital Irbil. Many Yazidis are staying with relatives and locals.

Still difficult

Ned Colt, a UNHCR spokesman in Dohuk, said the flow of refugees across the Tigris river border crossing at Peshkhabour had eased, with about 500 crossing yesterday morning. He added, however, that providing relief to the 80,000 people who arrived in the past week was still extremely difficult.

“People are in camps, but also in all the schools, churches and mosques across Dohuk, and also staying with family,” Mr Colt said. “We are bringing in items from wherever we can, but it is a massive project, and we are playing catch-up because people are so spread out. You can see people literally everywhere, in every village, and they do not stay in one place. They try to move to better locations and they often cannot take everything with them so we have to start from scratch when they arrive somewhere new.”

Mr Colt added: “People are arriving with sunburn and sunstroke from being exposed out in the open for so long. They are dehydrated and incredibly tired. They are entirely worn out, not knowing their next step, and everyone has traumatic stories to tell.”

David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said: “Both the people and the government of Kurdistan have been incredibly forthcoming and welcoming to the refugees but the sheer numbers puts an enormous burden on families in a poor region.”

Zakho, a Kurdish town near the Turkish border, normally has a population of 350,000 but has had to absorb an influx of more than 100,000 displaced people in the past few days.

A total of 200,000 people, mostly Yazidi, have been forced to leave their homes around the town of Sinjar since an Islamic State attack on August 3rd. But that was just the latest of successive waves of displacement. Half a million Iraqis were driven from their homes in Anbar province in January and 600,000 people fled to Kurdistan after the fall of Iraq’s second city, Mosul, on June 10th.

"The displacement crisis affects all Iraqis across the country. It's not just impacting one group," Mr Swanson said. – (Guardian service)