Thursday, September 14, 2006
Ministry says displaced people are returning to their homes
Security
According to Iraq's Ministry of Displacement and Migration, 170,000 people were displaced in the months following the bombing of the sacred Shia mosque in Samarra in February. However, the ministry said on Sunday that some 40,000 Iraqis have returned in the past month because security is improving.
An increased security presence has given many displaced people the confidence to believe that the killings will soon be reduced. Increased patrolling and more checkpoints in sensitive areas are restoring hope to the country's war-weary citizens.
"We know that security is bad in Iraq but the situation has somehow improved. We could see that when we returned without any trouble to our house in a shi'ite neighbourhood from where we were forced to flee three months ago," said Sarmad Omar, 46, a sunni who returned to his home in Baghdad three days ago.
However, two Baghdad neighbourhoods demonstrate that the sectarian problem is far from over. No displaced people have returned to the Sadr City district of the capital, a shi'ite stronghold, and to the Baghdad Ijidida area, a Sunni stronghold.
"We know that security is bad in Iraq but the situation has somehow improved. We could see that when we returned without any trouble to our house in a shi'ite neighbourhood from where we were forced to flee three months ago," said Sarmad Omar, 46, a sunni who returned to his home in Baghdad three days ago.
However, two Baghdad neighbourhoods demonstrate that the sectarian problem is far from over. No displaced people have returned to the Sadr City district of the capital, a shi'ite stronghold, and to the Baghdad Ijidida area, a Sunni stronghold.
