IDPs in Baghdad suburb stage protest, demand protection

Nearly 400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in Baghdad's southern district of Saydiyah took to the streets on 23 September, demanding government protection to enable them to return to their homes.

"Al-Saydiyah is now a place where you find many armed criminals who have occupied it and are thriving by killing and kidnapping. These criminals have played, and are still playing, with the lives of 50,000 residents - Shias, Sunnis, Christians, rich and poor," said Ali al-Amiri, 44, who represents the displaced families of Sayidyah.

According to al-Amiri, 4,730 families, about 23,650 individuals, have been displaced from the once peaceful Saydiyah over the past 18 months due to the increasing sectarian violence in this particular neighbourhood. Nearly 2,000 others have been killed in Saydiyah, he said.

Al-Saydiyah is now a place where you find many armed criminals who have occupied it and are thriving by killing and kidnapping. These criminals have played, and are still playing, with the lives of 50,000 residents.

"We want joint forces from the Iraqi army and police along with the Americans to clear our area of those terrorists to enable us return to our homes," said al-Amiri who led the demonstration to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home of the key government offices, including those of the prime minister and president.

“We want to go back to our houses," said construction worker Thamir Hassan Hamza, 65, who took part in the demonstration. He fled his house in Saydiyah with seven sons last May and now rents a small two-room apartment for 300,000 Iraqi dinars (about US$240) a month.

Sharp rise in number of displaced

In its latest report issued in early September and covering February 2006 until 31 August 2007 the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, IRCS, said the number of displaced families reached 282,672 nationwide, about 1,930,946 persons - a 272 percent increase on the 2006 figures and an 85 percent increase on the figures for July 2007.

Top of its list was Baghdad with 169,666 displaced families, and second was Ninawa Province in the north with 15,063 displaced families; third was Salaheddin Province with 14,174 displaced families.

The IRCS, the only non-governmental organisation (NGO) working on the ground countrywide, said its staff across the country were continuing to help displaced families despite constant danger.

IOM says 2.25 million IDPs in Iraq

Photo: IRIN

A map of Iraq highlighting the three provinces with the highest numbers of displaced familes, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent: Baghdad, with 169,666; Ninawa, with 15,063; Salaheddin, with 14,174

However, a report covering two weeks of September issued by the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on 18 September mentioned a higher figure for IDPs in Iraq - over 2.25 million. IOM said the number of IDPs almost doubled after the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra in February 2006.

IOM said most IDPs were staying with family or friends. Others rented shelters or had moved into abandoned buildings and a small number had sought temporary shelter in camps.

Reduced number of IDPs in Anbar Province

The IOM noted improved security, and consequently a reduced number of IDPs, in Sunni-dominated Anbar Province in western Iraq and in parts of Baghdad. It said Anbar had slowly stabilised since January, due in part to increased collaboration between the Anbar Rescue Council (ARC), a coalition of tribes formed in 2006, the Iraqi police, the multinational forces and Iraqi forces.

The ARC is enforcing extremely strict checkpoint procedures inside and at the entrance to towns, making movement within Anbar difficult, said IOM.

“The ARC is also deporting IDP families from the governorate if they suspect any of the displaced men have links to the insurgents,” said the IOM. It said Sunnis who do not have tribal links in Anbar, such as those from Basra, are treated with hostility.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, is seeing waves of returnees due to the improvement in security, said IOM. 

More on IDPs in Iraq

Former children's camp in south in urgent need of assistance

Militants using water to extort “favours” from displaced

IDP camp in south closes to new arrivals

Concern for newly arriving IDPs in south

Aid agency appeals for help for 1,000 IDPs in desert camp

Number of IDPs tops one million, says Iraqi Red Crescent

“Unusual” displacement in Baghdad

The IOM report notes the displacement in the second week of September of 250 Sunni families from the Hoor Rajab area of Baghdad to Abo Disheer, a Shia area in Dora, also in Baghdad.

“In a city where displaced families usually flee from mixed neighbourhoods to homogenous neighbourhoods, this displacement is unusual because the IDPs are Sunni while the host community is Shia,” said IOM, which added that Shia families in the area are reportedly supporting and even housing the new Sunni IDPs, who said they had fled after refusing to cooperate with al-Qaeda.

Displacement continues unabated in other areas such as Diyala, Qadissiya and Salah al-Din, said IOM. “Overall August 2007 showed a sharp rise - of over 70 percent compared to July - in the numbers of Iraqis forced to abandon their homes,” said IOM. It said the reasons for displacement were similar throughout Iraq - sectarian violence, continued military operations and generalised crime.

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