U.N. says Iraq humanitarian crisis at highest level
Hundreds of thousands driven from homes by militant advances
BAGHDAD (AP) — The United Nations on Wednesday called its highest level of emergency for the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes and tens of thousands have been trapped in a desert mountain by the advance of Islamic militants across the north of the country.
The declaration of a “Level 3 Emergency” will trigger additional goods, funds and assets to respond to the needs of those displaced, said U.N. special representative Nickolay Mladenov, who pointed to the “scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe.”
Since June, Iraq has been facing an onslaught by the Islamic State group and allied Sunni militants across much of the country’s north and west. In recent weeks, the crisis has worsened as the militant fighters swept over new towns in the north, displacing members of the minority Christian and Yazidi religious communities, and threatening the neighboring Iraqi Kurdish autonomy zone.
Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled the advance to take refuge in the remote desert Sinjar mountain range, becoming trapped for days without food or water. The U.S. and Iraqi military have dropped food and water supplies into the mountains, and in recent days Kurds from neighboring Syria battled to open a corridor to the mountain, allowing some 45,000 to escape.
Mladenov said tens of thousands of people are reportedly still trapped on Sinjar Mountain “with health conditions quickly deteriorating.” The White House said Wednesday it is considering a range of military options to rescue them, including airlifts and creating safe passages.
The U.N. said it would provide increased support to those who have escaped Sinjar and to 400,000 other Iraqis who have fled since June to the Kurdish province of Dahuk, the U.N. said. Others have fled to other parts of the Kurdish region or further south. A total of 1.5 million have been dis- placed by the fighting since the insurgents captured Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, in June and quickly swept over other parts of the country.
The United States has been carrying out airstrikes in recent days against Islamic State fighters, helping fend back their advance on Kurdish regions. At the same time, Iraq’s central government in Baghdad has been mired in political turmoil, after the president nominated a Shiite politician, Haider al-Abadi, to form the next government, putting him on track to replace embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki on Wednesday he will not relinquish power until a federal court rules on what he called a “constitutional violation” by President Fouad Massoum. “Holding on (to the premiership) is an ethical and patriotic duty to defend the rights of voters,” al-Maliki said Wednesday in his week- ly address to the nation, insisting his actions were meant to “protect the state.”
Al-Maliki has grown increasingly isolated, with Iraqi politicians and much of the international community lining up behind al-Abadi. Al-Abadi was picked to form a new government that can unite the country in the face of the Sunni militant onslaught, which many blame al-Maliki for fueling by pro-Shiite policies that alienated the Sunni minority
Widespread discontent with al-Maliki’s rule has reached the point where both Saudi Arabia and Iran — regional rivals often bitterly divided over Iraq — have expressed support for al-Abadi. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have also offered support for new leadership.
In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed hope Wednesday that “a government will be formed so that they (Iraqis) can give the necessary and appropriate response to the sedition-makers.” Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it hoped al-Abadi will establish “a comprehensive national government that includes all components of the Iraqi people.”