Aid still needed in Anbar governorate, say relief workers

Relief workers in Anbar governorate say that humanitarian aid is still badly needed for isolated groups of displaced persons who fled their homes due to recent fighting between insurgents and US troops. “Hundreds of displaced are still taking refuge in abandoned government buildings in isolated areas of Anbar,” said Muhammad Kubaissy, a volunteer for the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) from the city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of the capital, Baghdad. “These families are suffering from a lack of food, clean water and the heaters necessary for this year’s harsh winter,” Kubaissy added. According to Anbar municipality officials, 1,000 people have been displaced from al-Qaim and Romanna - both located close to the Syrian border - and Ramadi since the end of November, and continue to live in tenuous circumstances. Many have lost their jobs and had their homes destroyed during fighting in the area. An estimated 20,000 people were registered by the IRCS as having fled their homes three months ago, mostly from al-Qaim and Romanna. Over 19,000 of these have since returned home, leaving several hundred stranded along the Syrian border. “No one is watching this issue because the displaced are scattered in different areas,” said Ahmad Rabia’a, a senior official in Anbar municipality. The Baghdad-based IRCS has sent a specialised team to the Anbar governorate in the hopes of locating displaced families and providing them with badly needed aid. “Continuous fighting and the vast amounts of displaced people have made it difficult to follow up with different groups,” said IRCS spokeswoman Ferdous al-Abadi. “Some families have been overlooked but we will soon have a full picture of the situation.” Some of those involved in the relief effort, meanwhile, have criticised the government’s seemingly apathetic approach to the situation. “We’ve informed the central government about the displacement issue many times, but we have never received a response – not even from the Ministry of Human Rights,” complained Rabia’a. According to Karam Obaid, a senior official at the human rights ministry, the government has been preoccupied over the past few months with December’s parliamentary elections and security issues. But he insisted that a fund would be set up for displaced families as soon as a new government was formed in February. In the interim, though, aid workers say the situation remains desperate. “Residents from Ramadi, al-Qaim and Romanna are still suffering from a lack of supplies,” said Kubaissy. “They have been forgotten,” he added.