BAGHDAD, 8 May (IRIN) – Local aid agencies warn that families displaced immediately following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 still remain homeless.

“We urge international aid agencies to help us support the displaced, especially in terms of food and shelter,” said Waleed Rashdi, a spokesman for the Aid Agencies Association in Iraq. “Because all the aid is now being sent to the recently-displaced, while other groups are suffering seriously.”

Dina Abou Samra, a Middle East analyst at the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) agreed with this assessment. “The media has focused much attention on those displaced within the last weeks [victims of sectarian violence],” she said. “But it’s urgent that the needs of many other groups of displaced people are also addressed.” She went on to say that such people Ð many of whom have remained homeless for almost three years Ð be provided with shelter, food and access to clean water and health services.
alertnet.org

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