Sectarian killings 'out of control' Iraq
The United Nations’ humanitarian chief said today that sectarian killings are “out of control” in Iraq, with about 100 deaths a day and civilians fleeing neighbourhoods and towns because of the cycle of Sunni-Shiite reprisal attacks.
The UN estimates that at least 320,000 people have left their homes in Iraq since the US-led invasion, some for temporary quarters elsewhere in Iraq, some for Syria, Jordan and other places, Jan Egeland said.
“That is not irreversible, but the longer it goes, the more you cement the situation,” Egeland said, citing experience from the Balkans, Lebanon and other ethnic and religiously driven conflicts.
The figure of 100 violent deaths a day comes from checks of morgues in Baghdad and elsewhere by the UN and other aid groups, he said.
“The violence has come completely out of control, with revenge killings in so many areas,” Egeland said. The numbers, he said, tell the story of “how much the civilian population is suffering, and how important it is now to appeal to everybody who can stop it.”
Egeland said religious, ethnic and cultural leaders in and out of Iraq have a responsibility to try to end violence, as do Iraq’s Muslim and Arab neighbours.
President George Bush said this week he will not abandon Iraq despite mounting US troop deaths and his own dissatisfaction with some aspects of the war’s progress.
Egeland said there is not yet a full-blown humanitarian crisis in Iraq, partly because of the efforts of UN and other aid workers. He counted Iraq among the most dangerous places in the world for UN workers, along with Afghanistan, Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan.
The UN’s presence and activity in Iraq has been limited since the bombing of its headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003. That attack killed 22 people, including the top UN envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
