Syrian Refugees Continue Influx into Iraqi Kurdistan

[Aslan]

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The governor of Sulaimani said on Saturday that 4,000 Kurdish refugees from Syria will have resettled in his province in the next few days, after a sudden influx of more refugees into Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Governor Bahroz Muhammad Salih said that his office has already set housing plans in motion to accommodate the refugees.

According to Salih, the Syrian Kurds will temporarily be put in school buildings in the town of Arabat east of Sulaimani, where hundreds of Syrian refugees already live in a camp.

Salih said that in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) a new tent camp will be set up for the newly arrived.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will mobilize the Peshmarga forces to help in setting up the camp, he said.

UNHCR spokesperson in Kurdistan, Yousif Muhammad, told Rudaw that on Saturday alone close to 10,000 Kurds from Syria were expected to cross the border, and that most will be settled in Erbil.

“It is hard to tell how many refugees are here already, because some of them are not registered and some of them relocate to other areas,” Muhammad said. “But the numbers we have got so far exceed 156,000.”

This sudden influx of Kurdish refugees from Syria comes two days after the opening of the border between the autonomous Kurdistan Region and Syrian Kurdistan.

The Khabur River marks the border between both sides and the Kurdish government facilitated the crossing of thousands of people by placing a makeshift bridge.

On the first day of the opening of the bridge, 5,000 refugees managed to make their way into the Kurdistan Region.

“The UNHCR and other organizations are providing the tents,” said Muhammad. “And the KRG is trying to provide electricity and a small hospital inside the camp.”

Tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees have already been living in the Domiz Camp in Duhok province. But facing this sudden increase in refugee arrivals, the KRG and UNHCR are now working to open a second camp -- Darashakran -- in the suburbs of Erbil that would house around 15,000 people.

“Duhok province cannot accommodate refugees anymore,” Muhammad said. “In Domiz alone there are more than 35,000 refugees already.”

The Kurdish areas of Syria have escaped the violent revolution that has been raging the rest of the country for more than two years. But the Kurds have suffered terrible shortages of food, water and electricity due to the war that has cut them off from their supply lines in the rest of Syria.

[Anthea]

BBC News Middle East

Syria refugees pour into Iraqi Kurdistan in thousands



Thousands of refugees from Syria are pouring over the border into Iraqi Kurdistan, the UN refugee agency says.

Up to 10,000 crossed at Peshkhabour on Saturday, adding to an earlier influx of 7,000 on Thursday. The UN says the reasons are not entirely clear.

Alan Paul from Save the Children told BBC News: "We don't know when the flood [of people] will stop."

Link & Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23747322