CPTnet
1 Aug 2008
IRAQ:A visit to the Zharawa IDP camps

by Peggy Gish

After a half hour at the checkpoint, where Kurdish military guards examined our identification papers and wrote down key information, we continued on the windy mountain roads. Our driver, four CPTers, and our interpreter passed flocks of sheep and goats and small towns and villages nestled on dry, rocky mountainsides through the foothills of the higher Qandil slopes. We were in northwestern Suleimaniya Govenorate not far from the Iranian border.

Earlier, in the town of Zharawa, the mayor told us that more than 120 families, totaling at least 600 persons, had been displaced from their homes closer to the border since March by Iranian and Turkish military attacks. In this particular area, more of the attacks have been from Iran. In early April, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) opened up Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps for these families. "Their villages have experienced bombing periodically in previous years, but this year there has been continuous bombing, so they are afraid to return to their homes," explained the mayor.

As we turned a sharp curve in the narrow mountain road, we saw the first of the camps, about twenty to thirty tent homes clustered in an almost treeless area of the valley. We drove on and reached the second, where about seven family tents stretched out along the shallow river in a narrow valley. UNHCR labels on tents and ICRC labels on water tanks gave evidence that these and other international aid agencies have been supplying material aid. Trees gave shelter from the intense heat of the mid-summer sun. Ducks and geese swam in the river. Chickens pecked abound the camp.

We stopped at two family compounds to speak with the residents, who seemed eager to talk about their situation. "Life is hard. We don't have anything, and cannot go back to our villages," one woman told us as we sat in her family's tent. "The water is dirty. We can not plant our crops or take care of our livestock. There are no jobs." Others added, "There is no privacy. There are snakes and scorpions. We just heard that Turkish aircrafts came and bombed our village again yesterday."

All those we talked with wanted us to ask leaders of the governments involved to do what they could to stop the bombing of their villages. "Ask your government to make this stop so it is safe for us to return home," one told those of us who are from the U.S. "We want the people of the world to know about our problems."

Several officials in the Mayor's office made a similar request. "We need a diplomatic solution to the problems of the rebel groups in the mountains. We can make camps for the people, but it is better for the IDPs to be able to go back to their villages in safety. Tell your government to help that happen."