Iraqi Red Crescent seeks permission to return to Fallujah

A woman sat on top of three thin mattresses in front of an Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) building in the capital, Baghdad, trying to protect them from the rain. Other displaced people from the city of Fallujah mill around the building, trying to figure out how to apply for temporary aid while discussing with their friends where they can stay. Most of the fighting is over in the city about 60 km west of Baghdad. US troops are going house to house looking for weapons and insurgents. More than 2,000 insurgents are believed to have been killed in the last month, according to reports. US troop casualties in November were their highest ever since forces entered Iraq in April 2003, highlighting the scale of conflict. IRCS officials want to distribute aid in Fallujah again after leaving a still unstable area of the city for two days at the request of the US military, spokesman Annas al-Rawi told IRIN. “They didn’t give us specific reasons,“ al-Rawi said. “The procedures are difficult, so until they give us permission we will wait. They don’t say we can’t go [now] but they don’t prefer it.” Aid officials asked for permission to return on Wednesday but had not heard back, al-Rawi said. “Our main goal is to help people, so it is easy for us to know what to do. If there are fights or clashes or whatever, we don’t care,” al-Rawi said. “With the families in Fallujah, we can give them what they need if they give us permission to go in.” A US military spokesman disagreed, saying Red Crescent officials made a request to leave earlier in the week because of the continued poor security situation. In addition, a small number of Iraqi males who were seeking IRCS assistance were detained for further investigation, while others returned to their families, US Major Jay Antonelli told IRIN. To be able to return to Fallujah, the IRCS has asked for a security convoy of US troops, Antonelli said, but it might not be possible to provide such a security detail right away, he said. “We have never demanded the Red Crescent leave the city. We have recommended that they don’t come in, but we didn’t stop them,” Antonelli said. The IRCS is continuing to take food, water and other humanitarian items to the estimated 14,555 families staying in mosques, in schools, or with relatives in Habbaniya, Saklawiya and Germa, three cities outside of Fallujah, al-Rawi said. In addition, about 4,000 families remain in Amniyat Fallujah, near the IRCS office there, al-Rawi said. Another large number of Fallujah families are in Baghdad, although no one knows the exact number, he said. More than half of the population of the city is believed to have fled. “In Fallujah, there are still some fighters. There are still clashes, there are still bombs, all day and all night,” the spokesman said. IRCS officials previously had problems getting approval to take aid to families outside of Fallujah, al-Rawi said. Now, they and other groups have taken two or three deliveries of food and other items to each of the cities. More aid convoys are planned for Saturday, he said. Most of the families are in Saklawiya, a small village outside of Fallujah - an estimated 7,000 of them, according to an assessment just done by the IRCS. Another 6,000 are in Germa, another suburb. An estimated 1,555 families fled to Habbaniya, a popular resort area under former president Saddam Hussein. About 7,500 children are among the families, each of which is up to 10 people.