Canada calls for more aid as groups brace for flood of civilians from Mosul | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Canada calls for more aid as groups brace for flood of civilians from Mosul

Original Publication Date October 21, 2016 - 11:20 AM

OTTAWA - Canada has added its voice to calls for the international community to do more as aid groups brace for a potential humanitarian crisis near the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Iraqi and Kurdish forces this week launched a massive assault on Iraq's second-largest city to free it from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The operation had been expected for months and is seen as a pivotal moment in the fight to defeat ISIL.

In anticipation of the attack, the United Nations as well as a number of aid groups have been pre-positioning supplies for months to deal with an expected flood of civilians fleeing the fighting. Mosul is home to an estimated 1.2 million people.

But those efforts have been marred by a shortage of funding. The UN asked the international community in July for $284 million in aid for the Mosul offensive, but less than half has been pledged.

Canada is the fifth-largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Iraq, after the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and European Commission, according to the UN. That includes $150 million in humanitarian assistance promised in July.

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the money, to be spread over three years, is going to groups like the International Committee of the Red Cross and Oxfam to use as needed.

While not earmarked specifically for Mosul, she said some has already been used to support preparations for the Mosul attack.

That includes providing emergency food rations through the World Food Programme and ICRC and helping the International Organization for Migration with camps and emergency shelter.

But while touting Canada's contribution, Bibeau said much more is needed from the international community to prevent a tragedy.

"Civilians under siege are likely to be at the highest risk of hunger, lack of medical assistance and human rights violations," she said. "This is a global responsibility and all donors must step up to respond to what is now unfolding in Mosul."

The request for funding and advanced preparations were a direct result of the catastrophe in Fallujah earlier this year.

Humanitarians groups were overwhelmed as tens of thousands of people fled the city into the surrounding countryside to escape fighting between Iraqi and ISIL forces.

Aid workers on the ground have not yet seen a rush of civilians from Mosul since the operation to free the city only started on Monday. They say the fighting has so far been focused on largely abandoned villages around the city.

"For us, we expect the big influx when the fighting gets to the city," Oxfam's country director in Iraq, Andres Gonzalez Rodriguez, said in an interview from Erbil. "The worst is yet to come."

The UN says it is ready to accommodate up to 60,000 people in 27 camps and emergency sites scattered around Mosul, but it estimates that as many as 200,000 could flee during the first two weeks of the battle.

The Iraqi government has said it will provide safe corridors for civilians to escape the fighting. Special screening procedures have been set up to prevent pro-government militia groups from retaliating against civilians, as happened in Fallujah.

Aid groups have also asked the government to try to refrain from damaging power and water systems and other infrastructure during the attack. Meanwhile, there are fears ISIL could use civilians as human shields.

"The fear is that people will be unable to leave the city or forced to stay," ICRC spokesman Ralph El Hage said from Erbil.

While Mosul has become the focal point for the campaign against ISIL as well as humanitarian efforts, aid workers say there are dire needs in other parts of the country as well, which have also been exacerbated by a shortage of funds.

"The Mosul crisis unfolds as humanitarian partners in Iraq are already struggling to provide aid to some 10 million people who are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance across the country, including 3.3 million internally displaced people, many for the second or third time," the UN said this week.

"By year's end, depending on the scale and duration of the Mosul operation, as many 12 to 13 million Iraqis are expected to require humanitarian assistance."

— Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016
The Canadian Press

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