Increasing numbers of displaced families in need of assistance

Some 25,000 people have fled their homes in the past three weeks alone, in fear of becoming the next victims of escalating sectarian violence, a government official said on Tuesday. Dr Salah Abdul-Razzaq, a representative of the Shi'ite Endowment, a governmental body devoted to running Shi'ite religious institutions, put the current figure for displaced families at 13,750 countrywide, representing about 90,000 individuals in total. "Our role in this crisis is to help these families with money donated by religious authorities and people," said Abdul-Razzaq. "Families of five members or less are provided with US $40 monthly, families of six to ten members get US $50 and families of more than 10 take US $75." Meanwhile, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has registered some 11,000 displaced families, with the most affected governorates being Baghdad, Najaf, Anbar, Karbala and Diyala, according to UN sources. “The numbers [of displaced people] are increasing day after day,” said IRCS Director Dr Saad Haqi. “But our 100,000 volunteers are working hard countrywide to supply them with food parcels, potable water, blankets and kerosene, although much more is still required.” "Our main obstacle is to ensure the security of our volunteers,” Haqi added. “We have approached the defence and interior ministries about this, but we haven’t yet received a response." Incidents of sectarian violence, meanwhile, have only increased. Abdul-Hadi Hassan, 40, a taxi driver and father of three, was forced to leave his home in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad due to harassment by militants. "Nine masked gunmen broke into my house armed with rifles and pistols and told me to leave the area or have my daughters would be raped and killed," said Hassan, who now lives in an abandoned school in Sadr City. Rising violence is one of the toughest issues facing the newly-formed government. Sectarian hostility erupted in earnest following a 22 February attack on a revered Shi’ite shrine in Samara, some 120km north of Baghdad. The attack triggered a spate of sectarian reprisals between the country's major Muslim sects – Sunnis and Shi'ites – and has since claimed the hundreds of lives. Dozens of mosques, of both denominations, have also been damaged or destroyed.