Lifting of Most Restrictions Enable Some Resumption of Operations in Iraq
IOM has pre-positioned emergency food items for distribution to two
main hospitals in Baghdad's Sadr City area once all movement
restrictions are lifted following an end to recent violence between
Iraqi government forces and Mehdi Army militiamen.
Food baskets will also be delivered if needed to the neighbourhoods
of Qadimiya and Shulla which are still under curfew.
In addition, IOM is procuring food and non-food items for
immediate distribution to hospitals in some of Iraq's southern
governorates including Basra, Wassit, Qadissiya and Thi Qar as well
as to any newly displaced people.
Although most of the curfews and restrictions in Baghdad and the
southern governorates have now been lifted allowing schools, shops
and offices to open, IOM staff report a major lack of food and fuel
supplies with prices having risen anywhere between 50-600 per
cent.
The violence in Baghdad and southern Iraq, which claimed around
680 lives and injured another 1,500 people, in addition to the
curfews meant food, fuel, water and medical supplies to large parts
of Iraq were badly hit. Shops and market stalls were also damaged
in the violence, forcing merchants to delay trading until repairs
are completed.
Meanwhile, IOM and partners are again monitoring internal
displacement after several days of curfews and movement
restrictions halted operations in the south and Baghdad, the first
time in five years. However, any new displacement appears to have
been limited by violence, roadblocks and curfews.
Nearly 2.8 million Iraqis are now internally displaced, more
than 1.5 million of them since February 2006 when the bombing of
the Al-Askari shrine in Samara triggered a new displacement crisis
in the country.
According to the latest update on internal displacement by a
group of humanitarian organizations including IOM, more than one
million internally displaced people (IDPs) are in need of adequate
food and shelter while a similar number are without regular income
or employment. Around 300,000 IDPs do not have access to clean
water and are in need of other basic services.
The report update highlights an urgent need for emergency food
distributions to IDPs and host communities unable to access rations
through the public distribution system, which is not available in
many locations, is often missing food items, and which has not been
fully functional for the past three years.
For further information, please contact:
Livia Styp-Rekowska
E-mail:
"mailto:Lstyp-rekowska@iom-iraq.net">Lstyp-rekowska@iom-iraq.net
or
Dana Graber
E-mail:
"mailto:dgraber@iom-iraq.net">dgraber@iom-iraq.net
or
Jemini Pandya
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 22 717 9486
E-mail:
"mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int