"Half million" Iraqi refugees fled violence - VP [View All]

[leftchick]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAC854892.htm


REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen NAJAF, Iraq, April 28 (Reuters) - An Iraqi vice president said on Friday 100,000 families -- perhaps some half a million people -- are living as refugees because of sectarian violence wracking the country.

Adel Abdul Mahdi gave no source for his estimate, which is much higher than the 11,000 families -- or about 60,000 people -- which the Displacement and Migration Ministry said two weeks ago had fled their homes since late February.

An aide said Mahdi, the Shi'ite member of Iraq's three-man Presidency Council, was unavailable to clarify the remark, made to reporters during a visit to the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.

Since the Migration Ministry mainly counts those applying for assistance or places in camps, it seems many refugees have not been included in its figures -- many people have quietly left neighbourhoods to seek shelter with relatives elsewhere.