DISPLACED IRAQIS FORCIBLY RETURNED HOME, WHERE ISIL BOOBY TRAPS AWAIT
▶ Critics say Haider Al Abadi is putting his campaign for the May election before the safety of his people
Iraqi security personnel are forcibly returning refugees from camps to unsafe areas in the mainly Sunni Anbar province, exposing them to booby traps and vigilantes, aid workers say.
Managing more than two million Iraqis displaced by the war against ISIL is one of prime minister Haider Al Abadi’s biggest tasks. But critics say he is more interested in winning elections in May than alleviating Iraqis’ suffering and returning them home safely.
Authorities are sending back people against their will, refugees and aid workers say, to ensure that the election takes place on time. People must be in their area of origin to vote.
Mr Al Abadi is riding a wave of popularity after defeating ISIL in his country and is anxious that the election is not delayed.
Aid workers and dozens of displaced people at camps in the town of Amriyat Al Fallujah, 40 kilometres from Baghdad in Anbar province, said that many were forced home and that several had been killed or injured.
Aid workers said military lorries arrived at camps unannounced and commanders read out lists of people who were given one hour to pack their belongings and go.
Aid staff said up to 5,000 people were forcibly returned between November 21 and January.
“These returns are not safe,” one said. “They cannot really say no to a bunch of people with guns.”
But Mr Al Abadi’s strategy is not without its hazards as he risks alienating Sunni voters if displaced Sunnis are seen to be sent home to dangerous areas.
He will need all the votes he can muster to beat a challenge from candidates linked to Iranian-backed Shiite militias and win a second term.
An Iraqi military spokesman said claims of forced returns were an exaggeration.
“Our primary concern is the safety of our citizens. Our job is to protect people,” said Brig Gen Yahya Rasool of the Iraqi joint operations command. But Brig Rasool said “citizens have to go home”.
Some workers said the orders came from Mr Al Abadi’s office.
On November 25, security forces arrived at a camp in Amriyat Al Fallujah and told Saleh Ahmed, 37, and his family to return to their town of Betaya, said Mahdi Ahmed, his father.
They refused because contacts in Betaya told them the area was filled with booby traps left by ISIL fighters and their houses had been destroyed.
A local commander assured them the area was safe, saying it was “better to go live in a tent in your home town than live in a tent in the camp”.
Mr Saleh reluctantly took his wife and some of his children and got on the lorry. Mahdi Ahmed, 72, remained at the camp with his sick wife, another son, and some of his son’s children because their names were not on the list.
“They gave him a tent. He went back to our destroyed house and tried to pitch it in our yard,” Mr Ahmed Sr said.
Mr Ahmed Jr’s wife was killed instantly and his daughter sustained full body burns in an explosion in their home town. Mr Saleh lost one eye and was seriously injured in the other, one of his sons said.
The Ahmeds’ case is not unique. Abdallah, 17, said his family was forced to return to Jweibeh town on November 26.
A week later masked men arrived at the family home at 2am demanding to speak to the father. When he refused to open the door, they burst in and started shooting. Abdallah’s father suffered leg wounds and his mother lost a finger.
“It’s not that we don’t want to return but it has to be safe,” said Abdallah, who is now the family breadwinner, working at a shop in the city of Fallujah.
For many it is not economically viable to leave the camps, where they can set up barber shops or fruit stands and make about US$50 a month.
That would not be possible at home where jobs, services and schools are non-existent.
One man whose father suffers from kidney failure said leaving meant losing access to the camp’s dialysis machine. His village, 450km from the camp, did not have one.
“I will return once there are adequate health services there but why should I go before then?” asked Jassem Ali, 37.
Five camp residents said they were forced to leave but had to turn back because checkpoints manned by Shiite militias were demanding bribes of up to $400 to let people through.
A US diplomat in Baghdad said she had heard reports of forced returns, which the embassy had brought to the attention of the Iraqi government.
She said the government had stressed its commitment to safe and voluntary returns, but also said that “there is a real desire to get people home as quickly as possible”.
The UN says more than half of displaced Iraqis have returned. More than 3.2 million people were back home last month, with 2.6 million still displaced, the International Organisation for Migration said.
For Mr Ahmed Sr, the government has scored an own goal. “They are doing this because of the election but if I go back and see my house destroyed, my money gone, my life ruined, why would I vote for them?”