U.N.: Estimated 250,000 Fled Fallujah

[Barrett808]

U.N.: Estimated 250,000 Fled Fallujah
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA - Relief organizations estimate up to 250,000 Iraqis have fled Fallujah to nearby villages and Baghdad, but the groups have not been able to assess the refugees' needs because of fighting around the former insurgent bastion, a U.N. official said Thursday.

Astrid van Genderen Stort, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Amman, Jordan, said there didn't appear to be an immediate threat of a lack of food because most of those who fled either took supplies with them or are being fed by their hosts.

She said relief workers think most of the displaced people are staying with friends or relatives in nearly a dozen villages around Fallujah and worry that the increased population may be overwhelming water and sanitation facilities in some areas.

"We hope that we can access these people soon to know what the exact needs are and to make sure that these needs are met," van Genderen Stort said. "The access is very difficult. You just can't give the support you would give in an ordinary refugee crisis."

The Iraqi Red Crescent, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, distributed some food, blankets and other supplies to two of the villages Thursday, said Rana Sidani, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Geneva.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041118/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_aid_iraq

[harrison]

1. And the boy dictator laughs and smiles and ponders the

power that he holds in his hands that he can make a quarter of a million people flee for their lives. "Ah, but God anointed me to this work," he says.