GENEVA ( U.N. Refugee Agency Says Iraq situation “Chaotic” )

GENEVA – The United Nations’ refugee agency on Friday described the situation in Iraq as “chaotic,” saying it has not been able to reach or help tens of thousands of people who are internally displaced and fears that number will increase as the conflict spreads.

“The situation is chaotic,” Adrian Edwards, the spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, said of the crisis in Iraq, where several conflicts are raging at the same time.

The United Nations continues to give a figure of 500,000 people internally displaced as a result of this month’s seizure of the northern city of Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a jihadist group linked to Al Qaeda, and its allies.

Concurrently, humanitarian agencies must attend to another half-million people forcibly displaced by the conflict in the western province of Al-Anbar that predates ISIS’ uprising over the past two weeks.

Edwards said the UNHCR is “very concerned” because the fighting is causing more displacement, noting that humanitarian agencies are already overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who have fled and are unable to reach many others due to lack of security.

Neither the UNHCR, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs nor the International Organization for Migration can say how many of the internally displaced lack access to international aid, nor give their precise location, but they believe they number more than 100,000.

“The ongoing conflict and the extremely volatile environment is likely to limit humanitarian access to thousands of displaced people in areas controlled by armed groups,” Jacqueline Badcock, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said in a statement Friday.

The OCHA’s spokesman, Jens Laerke, said that for the moment no talks have been held with ISIS leaders requesting access to the internally displaced.

The situation is complicated further because many of the displaced are constantly on the move.
An additional major concern is the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases due to high temperatures and the lack of sanitation, hygiene and potable water in many of the areas where the displaced have taken refuge, Fadela Chaib, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, said.

Iraqi officials contend that ISIS is solely responsible for the offensive in the northern part of the country, but other Sunni militant groups opposed to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki are backing the jihadist movement.

The rebels are holding Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the capital of Nineveh province, and trying to advance on Baghdad.