Ghettoisation creeping into Iraq

[spindrifter]

Aljazeera.net
Saturday 29 July 2006, 8:05 Makka Time, 5:05 GMT

Shia and Sunnis in Iraq are swapping homes, creating segregated communities to avoid the sectarian violence that is engulfing the country.


Iraqi military officers said many families in the religiously mixed city of Nasser Wa Salaam have moved to neighbourhoods where their sect is in the majority - their homes are either deserted or exchanged with trusted friends of the other sect.

"Friends from different sects say, 'Let's trade houses, then we'll move back when things settle down'," said Brigadier-General Abdullah Abdul Kareem Abdul Sattar, commander of Iraqi forces in Nasser Wa Salaam, a city of about 80,000 people.

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Residents of many areas have reported that they have seen or heard of leaflets warning that they will be killed if they do not leave.
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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D55F3D49-AFBF-484D-B99A-587B6D386B28.htm