Report: 160,000 internally displaced Iraqis now in Kurdish north, but prospects bleak and aid insufficient

Displaced Iraqis with food bags from the Red Crescent Society, the Iraqi version of the Red Cross

BAGHDAD, March 21 — About 160,000 Iraqis from outside the mountainous Kurdish north have moved there to flee a growing civil war, according to a draft of a report by an international group that tracks refugees and displaced people.

That number is the first comprehensive figure for internal flight to Iraqi Kurdistan that has been released by any organization. It is also far higher than partial estimates previously disclosed by Kurdish officials.

The draft report, by Refugees International, which is based in Washington, says the Iraqis who have fled north face harsh living conditions. Inflation is rampant, and outsiders have few decent job opportunities.

Little aid is available for those or other internally displaced Iraqis, because the Iraqi and United States governments, as well as the United Nations, have failed to acknowledge the extent of the crisis, the report said.

Read the rest at the NY Times

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