Iraq - ICRC-03: 26 September 1996

ICRC
26-Sep-96
Update No. 3 on ICRC activities in Iraq


Internally displaced people

On 9 September, in the continuing hostilities between the Kurdistan 
Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), KDP 
forces seized control of Sulaymaniyah, in northern Iraq. The town had 
previously been in the hands of the PUK.

An estimated 80,000 civilians in all have fled Sulaymaniyah in the 
direction of the Iranian border. About half of them are reported to have 
found refuge in camps on Iranian soil. Others have returned in the 
meantime, as the situation calmed down.

The ICRC estimates that more than 5,000 people remain displaced on Iraqi 
territory in areas close to the Iranian border, but its delegates have 
not yet been able to ascertain their needs. Once conditions allow, 
delegates will assess the situation of these people and assist them 
according to their needs. The items will be taken from the stocks of 
blankets, tents, cooking sets, tarpaulins and soap which were brought to 
Sulaymaniyah in an ICRC convoy from Baghdad at the end of last week.


Visits to detainees

Some 800 people captured during the recent clashes between the KDP and 
the PUK have been visited and registered by the ICRC since 16 August. 
Teams of delegates are stepping up their field missions to have access to 
all detainees and to keep a check on their conditions. When the ICRC 
receives information that a detainee has been released, the family is 
contacted to verify it.


Providing medical assistance

The ICRC is now moving medical supplies from Baghdad to its three offices 
in northern Iraq in order to replenish stocks there. Nearly all the 
materials were used up in recent weeks to treat some 800 wounded people 
in health structures in the Arbil and Sulaymaniyah areas. In addition, 
immediately after the fall of Sulaymaniyah, dressing sets were handed out 
to displaced people heading for the Iranian border.

Since then, ICRC delegates have made several visits to hospitals in the 
Arbil and Sulaymaniyah region to assess needs in terms of medical care.


Personnel

The ICRC has sent two of its eight delegates normally based in Baghdad to 
northern Iraq, bringing to 16 the number of expatriates in its 
sub-delegation in Arbil and its offices in Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk. In 
addition, the ICRC has some 100 locally hired employees in the northern 
governorates.