ATTACKS ON SHIA AREA DISPLACE 850 FAMILIES INTO

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003794 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016 TAGS: IZ PGOV PREL PREF SUBJECT: ATTACKS ON SHIA AREA DISPLACE 850 FAMILIES INTO BAGHDAD CITY Classified By: Polcouns Margaret Scobey, Reason 1.5 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) officials told RefCoord on October 10 that mortar and terrorist attacks against the mostly Shia area of Saba'a Al-Boor have resulted in the sudden displacement of 850 families (approximately 5,100 individuals, at six persons per family) into the Kadhamiyah District of northwest Baghdad. While many of these newly displaced families moved-in with relatives or into vacant houses, some 425 families have encamped in the Kadhamiyah District neighborhood of Kadhimiya. The Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) and International Medical Corps (IMC) are providing relief. MODM has been slow and only marginally effective in facilitating assistance to these IDPs. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) The Saba'a Al-Boor area is located within the Baghdad governorate but outside Baghdad's city limits. The area, which lies seventeen miles northwest from the center of Baghdad, has a Sunni-Shia mixed population of approximately ten thousand (twenty-five percent Sunni and seventy-five percent Shia),and it is surrounded by areas dominated by Sunni populations. Sunni insurgents are blamed for the mortar attacks and shootings against the area residents, which intensified on or around October 5 and might have been triggered by Shia militias' attacks against Sunnis in other neighborhoods. ¶3. (SBU) According to MoDM and NGO sources, between 825 and 850 displaced families have fled from Saba'a Al-Boor, entered the Baghdad city limits, and are currently residing in the Kadhimiya neighborhood of the Kadhamiyah District. Some of the families have found shelter with relatives (250 families),while many others have occupied two schools (248 families) and a field next to Kadhimiya's women's prison (180 families). Other families have reportedly occupied the empty houses of Sunni families in the adjoining neighborhood of Al-Huriya (150 families). The 180 families at the field next to the women's prison are sharing 90 tents set up by the IRCS, which has also distributed food and other items. IMC, an international NGO active in Iraq, has conducted a needs assessment of the IDPs in Kadhimiya and will jointly deliver with MoDM tents, clothing, water tanks, and other essential supplies. IMC intervention is funded by USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. ¶4. (C) Embassy RefCoord discussed the GOI's response to the situation with MoDM officials on October 10. MoDM's Director General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Samir Hatim Al-Nahi, shared with the RefCoord information regarding food, water, and other supplies distributed by the IRCS. Al-Nahi stated that MoDM was establishing an inter-ministerial committee and would set up an operations room to coordinate assistance. Al-Nahi explained that the committee was thus far only comprised of MoDM personnel, as other ministries (such as health, interior, education, and social affairs) have not responded yet to MoDM's invitation to join it. MoDM staff has been dispatched to Kadhimiya, but MoDM has not completed yet its own needs assessment of the situation. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: MoDM's response to the Saba'a Al-Boor displacement has been slow and only marginally effective. IRCS and IMC have taken the lead in assisting the IDPs, without relying on MoDM's coordination or assessments. MoDM could still play a useful role in the coming days in coordinating assistance with other ministries and in gathering data on the displaced families. END COMMENT. KHALILZAD