On team during this period were Marius van Hoogstraten, David Hovde, Garland Robertson, Chihchun Yuan

The Displaced People (IDPs) in Zharawa
In June, a wave of people returned to the IDP tent camp in Bastesan.  At the beginning of August, many families left the camp again.  Ten families remained in the tents, most of them women.  Team members visited the area each week and families told them that they were still hoping to build houses in the tent campsite.  If the bombing continued to happen in the village, they said, their families would have a place to stay while waiting for the bombing to stop.

Mrs. Gula, a woman injured in a May bombing attack, was recovering.  She told the team that before she had surgery, the police asked her if she was sure that Iranian shelling caused her wounds.  After the surgery, instead of sending her home, the authorities sent her by ambulance to the court.  The authorities asked her to swear in front of the judge that Iranian shelling had inflicted her wounds.  She told them she would not swear because she was telling truth and everyone knew it.

The team visited the Director of Electricity in Suleimaniya to follow up on the IDPs’ application.  The Director said his office did not have money, but the main office in Erbil might have a budget.  The team followed up on the case with the main office in Erbil and they were told that the office would evaluate the situation, but that doing so would take time.

The Displaced People in Sangesar
Ramadan started on 11 August; the families remaining in the three different camps followed observed the Ramadan fast even in the heat of the tent camp, which does not have any shade.  The team asked the authorities what their policies about helping people in Ramadan were.  The authorities did not have any answers.  At the end of August, many displaced people went home because the authorities had not provided services.  The Iranian military shelled the area again on 24 August and injured two people.  Then the Iranian military set a huge fire in the mountains.

The Meeting with Iranian Consul in Erbil
The team visited the Iranian Consulate on 4 August in Erbil.  Mr. Uwzem Mamand told the team that the conflicts along the border do affect people's lives but only for a few days at a time.  People leave their homes, but very soon after, they go back to their villages.  He never heard of any damage happening or complaints from the KRG.  He tried to tell the team the bigger problem is that Western countries are trying to use the border to support the anti-government groups.  He said in the past three months, 200 bombs were transported from Iraq to support the rebel groups in Iran.

The report " Iraq After Occupation" by Marius van Hoogstraten is now available online.
http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2010/09/02/iraq-christian-peacemaker-teams-report-challenges-us-reading-iraq-situation