Report sees no early return of refugees who fled Fallujah

[MidEastMan]

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=142086

Baghdad: More than 200,000 people who fled Fallujah ahead of the US offensive have yet to return and many are in desperate need of aid, with temperatures in Iraq heading towards freezing, a new UN emergency report says.

Figures compiled by the International Organisation for Migration show that 210,600 people, or more than 35,000 families, took refuge in towns and villages around Fallujah in the build up to the US assault, launched on November 8.

Nearly all those people remain outside the city, where the population was estimated at 250,000-300,000 before the attack.

US forces are maintaining a cordon around Fallujah as sporadic fighting continues and are preventing refugees from returning, saying they want to stagger the return so that basic facilities can be restored before people go home.

Most areas of the city remain without power, water, sewage and other basic services and it is expected to take much longer than previously thought to start reconstruction as hundreds of buildings are completely destroyed.

"The return to Fallujah may take a matter of months rather than days, as was previously suggested by multi-national forces," the document entitled "Emergency Working Group Fallujah Crisis" and distributed by the United Nations said.

The report, compiled by various aid agencies and released this week, says access to the camps for internally-displaced people is sporadic due to insecurity and military operations.

"Some sites have received assistance, whereas others...are reportedly difficult to access even by the Iraqi Health Ministry," it said.

It described shortages of fresh food and cooking oil and said there was serious concern about the cold.

Since October, when families first began fleeing Fallujah, temperatures in central Iraq have fallen from around 30 degrees Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius and sometimes colder overnight.

Many families fled with the clothes they were wearing and a few personal items, unprepared for the change in weather.

"The temperature has dropped, underscoring an urgent need for winterisation items and appropriate shelter," the report said, detailing more than 15,000 families in need of dry food, detergent, winter clothes, blankets, mattresses and heaters.