IOM's latest Emergency Needs Assessment on the extent of internal
displacement inside Iraq shows that improved security in Anbar
governorate and parts of Baghdad has resulted in a decrease in the
number of recently displaced families.

This is due to the fact that Anbar governorate has slowly
stabilized since January, due in large part to the increased
collaboration between the Anbar Rescue Council (ARC), a coalition
of tribes formed in 2006, Iraqi police and the
Multinational-National Force and Iraqi Forces. 

According to this latest assessment, which covers the two weeks
of September, the ARC is currently enforcing extremely strict
checkpoint procedures inside and at the entrances of the cities,
making movement within Anbar difficult.

The ARC is also deporting internally displaced families from the
governorate if they suspect that any of the displaced men have
links to the insurgents. It is also reported that Sunnis who do not
have tribal links in Anbar, such as those from Basrah, are treated
with hostility.

The assessment notes that Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, is
receiving waves of returnees due to the security improvement in the
city.

However, a curfew has been enforced in the city after the
suicide explosion that killed Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the leader of
ARC. Any resumption of fighting in Anbar between insurgents and the
ARC could lead to subsequent displacement.

In Baghdad city, the report notes that than 250 Sunni families
were last week displaced from Hoor Rajab area in the Baghdad
suburbs to Abo Disheer, a Shia area in Dora.

In a city where displaced families usually flee from mixed
neighbourhoods to homogeneous neighbourhoods, this displacement is
unusual because the internally displaced people (IDPs) are Sunni
while the host community is Shia.

The newly displaced claim that they fled after refusing to
cooperate with Al-Qaeda.  Shia families in this area are
reportedly supporting and even housing the new Sunni IDPs.

Due to the extremely high number of IDPs in Baghdad, monitors
continue to frequently encounter large groups of especially
vulnerable families.

In the past two weeks, 73 families were identified living in
Al-Sadr city in Kasra-wa-Atash. They are living together with poor
urban families in mud shelters in an unsanitary environment and are
in urgent need of potable water, food, and non-food items.

In other areas, such as Diyala, Qadissiyah, and Salah al-Din,
increased instability is resulting in continued displacement.

In Dahuk, Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, Kerbala, Najaf, Qadissiya,
Babylon, Thi-Qar, Basrah, and Muthanna, governorate authorities
continue to restrict IDP entry and registration.

The report finds that reasons for displacement are similar
throughout Iraq: many of the newly displaced are fleeing due to
sectarian violence, continued military operations, and generalized
crime.

As highlighted in previous reports, the majority of the
displaced rent substandard shelter or stay with friends or family,
placing additional burdens on host communities. Others are moving
into abandoned buildings, and a small percentage temporarily
resides in camps. Throughout the country, insecurity continues to
severely restrict children’s access to school.

The estimated number of displaced since the bombing of the
Al-Askari shrine in Samarra on 22 February 2006 is 1,058,424
individuals. This figure, combined with the 1.2 million individuals
who were internally displaced before 22 February, results in a
total of over 2.25 million IDPs in Iraq to date.

IOM, which has been leading emergency distributions among
displaced and vulnerable populations inside Iraq, has assisted more
than 320,000 people since late February 2006. Since 2003, the
Organization has helped five million IDPs and vulnerable people by
providing emergency food and water supplies and implementing
community assistance projects in health, education, sanitation and
income generation.

The report is available at:  "paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.iom-iraq.net/idp.html">www.iom-iraq.net/idp.html.

For further information, please contact:

Dana Graber Ladek

Iraq Displacement Specialist

IOM Iraq

Tel: + 962 79 611 1759

E-mail: "mailto:dgraber@iom-iraq.net">dgraber@iom-iraq.net