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