There are at least 300,000 internally displaced persons in the US-protected Kurdish-majority "safe haven" of northern Iraq, comprising the three governates of Irbil, Dohuk and Suleimaniya. Michael Jansen, in Amman, reports
This dramatic news was released yesterday by the UN Office of the Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq (UNOHCI) during a press conference here in Amman.
Ms Veronique Taveau, UNOCHI spokeswoman, said there had been a major population movement from Irbil city towards Shaqlawa and Soran, close to the Iranian border, and numbers are increasing.
The city of Dohuk near the Turkish border is "almost empty \ some people \ returned to the city of Suleimaniya."
She told The Irish Times that some had fled from the oil city of Kirkuk, in the government-controlled area, to Irbil and Suleimaniya but they had refused to be registered with the security authorities at checkpoints.
Since the war began, however, this movement has halted because the checkpoints have been closed.
Ms Taveau said 90 per cent of the displaced are now housed by relatives who have stockpiled food for three to six weeks or rented rooms with families.
Five per cent are lodged in schools and other public buildings and five per cent are camping under plastic sheeting or in tents. Cold, stormy weather is slowing down the preparation of UN camps.
There is serious concern for the health of those who do not have adequate shelter, she said. The UN office which is setting up the camps estimates that only 10 per cent of the newly displaced need food aid.
The situation will become more difficult if electricity and the distribution of food and other supplies is disrupted.
Mr Peter Kessler, spokesman of the UN High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), said that no internally displaced persons had crossed the borders of Iraq to become refugees in neighbouring countries.
Camps are being established in Iran, Turkey and Syria to house refugees from the north. No refugees have taken up residence in Camp A for Iraqis at Ruweished near the Jordan-Iraq border.