2.3 million flee to elsewhere in Iraq- "Leave this house within 48 hours or you will face death."

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2.3 million flee to elsewhere in Iraq

http://origin.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_7372584

By LAUREN FRAYER Associated Press Writer
Article Last Updated: 11/05/2007 12:45:22 PM PST

BAGHDAD—

The Shiite militia's threat came in a typed letter tossed at Mohammed Abdul-Wahab's door:

"Leave this house within 48 hours or you will face death."

The Sunni government worker did just that—fleeing his ancestral home in a mostly Shiite
area of Baghdad with his wife and 2-year-old son.

Now, struggling to pay rent higher than his salary, Abdul-Wahab is among the nearly 2.3
million people the Iraqi Red Crescent says have been driven from their neighborhoods as
Iraq is increasingly carved up along sectarian lines.

The number of internally displaced people has swelled in Iraq since the beginning of 2007,
when the group counted less than half a million.

A new report issued Monday by the Iraqi Red Crescent shows that such people now outnumber
Iraqis who have fled the country altogether for refuge in neighboring states like Syria and
Jordan.

The rise came despite a sharp drop in bombings, shootings and other violence more than four
months after the U.S. completed a 30,000-strong force buildup here. American and Iraqi death
tolls have also fallen dramatically.

At least 17 Iraqis were killed or found dead Monday, police and morgue officials said, including
a councilman gunned down in a neighborhood next to his own in western Baghdad.

On average, at least 56 Iraqis—civilians and security forces—have died each day so far in 2007,
according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

Deadly rivalries have forced Shiite and Sunni Muslims to flee once diverse neighborhoods across
Iraq's capital, leaving the city with clear boundaries between sects. More than 60 percent of
those forced to flee were in Baghdad, the report said.

"I didn't harm anybody, and I don't know why I was displaced and my house was taken by another
family," said 28-year-old Abdul-Wahab, who fled his Jihad neighborhood last December.

His house had been in the family for generations. Now, coupled with his wife's income as a teacher,
Abdul-Wahab's meager government salary—$120 per month—is just enough to rent another house in
nearby Amariyah, a Sunni enclave. They have almost no money left for food.

"The two salaries are not enough. We have to buy milk for our baby," Abdul-Wahab said. "We filled
out an application form for displaced people at the immigration ministry, for extra income, but
so far we have received nothing."

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About 83 percent of the country's displaced people are women and children under the age of 12,
the organization reported. And many are not able to find permanent housing like Abdul-Wahab was.

"Children do not attend schools and are being sheltered in tents, abandoned government buildings
with no water or electricity, mosques, churches, or with relatives," the report said. "In addition
to their plight as being displaced, the majority suffer from disease, poverty and malnutrition."

Four and a half years after the U.S.-led invasion, the Iraqi government struggles to provide basic
services—water, electricity and access to schools and medical care—to citizens across the country.
Much of Iraq, especially the capital, is beset by violence, crumbling infrastructure and rampant
crime, and most humanitarian groups are unable to reach victims who need help.

Some 2.3 million Iraqis have been driven from their homes but remain inside the country's borders,
according to the Red Crescent's most recent figures, through Sept. 30.

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