Ethnicity: Iraq: Black Iraqi refugees, refugees driven into Jordan and Syria

After running yesterday's blog-entry with the historical background on the Black people of Iraq, today I received in my email, a newsletter from Christian Aid entitled "Missions Insider" (there is a website, but the search engine does not yield any online articles resulting from my search terms). It contained the picture and text below, which illuminates and updates yesterday's historical material.

Every day thousands of Iraqis flee their country due to the continuing sectarian violence, poverty, lack of basic infrastructure, unemployment, and civil unrest. Nearly 20% of Iraqis are living below the poverty line.

Most Iraqi refugees take shelter in the Arabic-speaking countries of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Many of them have never heard the gospel. One Christian Aid-supported ministry, covertly working in the Middle East, has found that these refugees are often open to the gospel. Christians have a multitude of opportunities to reach out to these refugees, who are left without the aid of the government.

Once away from their family, friends and culture, refugees frequently question their native religions. Despite the great challenge, ministries in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are taking this important opportunity to share the gospel with Iraqis.

Jordan: Approximately 700,000 Iraqi refugees are living in Jordan with limited legal status. While wealthy Iraqis fled to Amman and live very well, most suffer from poverty and lack basic necessities. Often they have left behind all of their belongings. The flow of refugees continuously increases, yet international aid has decreased. Indigenous ministries tackle the basic yet increasing needs in Jordan by providing food parcels to the refugees. One ministry, which has started many churches throughout the country, is distributing these parcels containing sugar, rice, tomato paste, canned meat and oil.

Syria: Indigenous ministries continue to facilitate the distribution of food parcels and Bibles to needy Iraqi families in Syria. These ministries also support a medical clinic to provide needy patients with free medical prescriptions. Now that more than 1 million Iraqi refugees live in Syria, representing more than 5% of the country's population, Syria has decided to prohibit Iraqis from entering the country. Since 2003, with the high influx of refugees, food and housing prices have skyrocketed. Children comprise 48% of the Iraqi refugee population in Syria. Although permitted to attend school, Iraqi children are discriminated against. Education provided by Christians is always welcomed and appreciated by this marginalized group. Two Christian Aid-supported ministries in particular have opened schools for Iraqi children. Because Syria does not issue work permits to Iraqi refugees, most adults are either unemployed or working illegally. Syrian ministries are providing vocational training for jobs that refugees can legally perform.

Now I'm finding additional attention to Iraq's history of enslaving Blacks and the Black communities that survived even thru Saddam Hussein's day, but of whom many are now among the flood Iraqi refugees in surrounding Arab countries. I've seen no new info yet on whther these people tend to be Sunnis or Shi'ites or both.

More Info:

'Black Iraqis' and African Heritage in an Islamic State [audio, NPR, Tony Cox]

News & Notes, January 6, 2005 · NPR's Tony Cox talks with Theola Labbe of The Washington Post about so-called "black Iraqis" -- Iraqis of African descent -- and how they identify race, class and culture in an Islamic state.

Richard Prince's Journal-isms (Jan19,2k4)

Blacks Are an Intrinsic Part of Iraqi Society

The black presence in Iraq became the subject of the second piece in a major newspaper in a week's time. On Saturday, the Los Angeles Times devoted its "Column One" space to a report by black journalist Ann M. Simmons.

"Blacks are an intrinsic part of Iraqi society, and generally are treated as such. Some have ascended to significant positions in academia, trade and other professions. Like other Iraqis, they speak Arabic, and most are Muslims belonging to the country's Shiite majority or the Sunni minority," she wrote.

Simmons said that, "For now, the demise of the former system has left government agencies and administrative departments in disarray, making access to statistical information on the ethnic breakdown of Iraq's population of 23 million difficult to obtain. Still, some academics put the number of Iraqis of African decent at about 1%, though others believe that figure could be as high as 5%."

The previous Sunday, the Washington Post ran a piece by Theola Labb�, "A Legacy Hidden in Plain Sight," that focused more on the cultural connections between black Iraqis and Africa.

Daily Darfur: Hunger: Darfur region of Sudan remains a hotspot for food relief

A report on the ReliefWeb website of the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations Humanitarian Commision Relief (UNHCR) carries a list and write-up of "Hunger's global hotspots: 22 Feb 2007." The countries singled out for special concern are Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Congo DR, DPRK (North Korea - the two words appear nowhere in the text), Ethiopia, Guinea, Occupied Palestinian Terroritories (notice the politically-loaded designation), Sri Lanka, Somalia, and the country I've single out for attention below, Sudan, especially its Darfur region.

Sudan

In Sudan's Darfur region, February distributions are continuing, despite on-going insecurity. WFP is planning to carry out as many double-distributions as possible in March as part of its preparedness and mitigation strategy.

In January, WFP and cooperating partners provided assistance to 2.4 million beneficiaries including 2.2 million IDPs and vulnerable residents in Darfur.

I'm guessing that "IDP" refers to "Internally Displaced Person/s"

Almost 158,000 people in Darfur did not receive food assistance in January as insecurity affected humanitarian access to locations in West and South Darfur.

Violent robbery

The majority of those not reached (122,000) were in Gereida camp, south Darfur, where WFP cooperating partner Action Contre La Faim (ACF) decided not to return following a violent robbery in December.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has now taken over food distributions in that camp.

I understand from the web that the former Red Cross has changed its name to the Red Chrystal, and dropped the sign of the Cross in favour of a boxed square called absurdly a "chrystal." I find this disgusting and anti-historical, to say the least. One has to fall in line with this semiotic shell-game in order to continue to support the former Red Cross. I must say that it has lessened my enthusiasm. There's a huge amount of internal and interagency politics among the various relief organizations.

FAO-WFP CFSAM recommends significantly reduced food aid and a phase out of general food assistance in Central and Eastern Sudan in favour of targeted interventions, like school or supplementary feeding.

Three-month food packages

In the Three Areas the focus will be on timely three-month food packages to an estimated 350,000 returnees expected to return to Abyei, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile in 2007.

UNHCR and WFP signed a Joint Plan of Action for Blue Nile to cover the reintegration of both organised and spontaneous returnees in 2007. WFP is working with World Vision International, SUDO and UNHCR to finalise agreements on food distribution by the end of February.

An outbreak of meningitis in parts of southern Sudan forced the temporary suspension of humanitarian activities last month.

Africa > Sudan & Chad

Authorities say a ban on people congregating may soon be lifted. If so, WFP will resume distributions in parts of Northern Bahr El Ghazal in early March.

One really needs a map of Sudan to get the full import of these different areas, and the way in which food relief is being redeployed in certain regions. But Darfur on the border with Chad remains a standout as an absolutely necessary continuous recipient for some time, when armed conflict and the endangerment of the relief workers doesn't halt the distribution process. Some say the actual genocide is easing, fewer deaths of the Darfur people; but the Janjaweed govt-backed terrorists and land-grabbers are still active. Unfortunately, the Darfurians themselves are woefully divided into numerous rebel organizations, which spend much time and energy fiting one another and hurting the general population in the process. One imagines that some of these rebels would fit the category of "terrorists" themselves.

The situation in neiboring Chad is also very difficult. In Chad one of three hotspots for food relief involves Darfurian refugees from the Sudan who have fled their own country and crossed the border into Chad, already beset by severe hunger in places.

Chad

The security situation in eastern Chad continues to be unstable and complex. No improvement in either the inter-ethnic problems or the Government/rebel activity can be noted.

It is estimated that there are over 110,000 internally displaced persons ( IDPs) in eastern Chad most of whom are in need of assistance and WFP is increasing planning figures to 110,000 IDPs and host families.

Assessment

A WFP EFSA to assess IDP numbers and requirements for assistance is ongoing in eastern Chad.

To date WFP has provided food assistance to IDPs in Gassire (12,000 people), Am Timan (1,400) and Dogdore (over 18,000 people)

February distributions for the Sudanese refugees have been completed in 10 out of the 12 camps. Distributions in the remaining 2 camps are currently ongoing and should be completed during the week.

Distributions for the Central African Republic (CAR) refugees in the southern camps are still ongoing.

In the case of the Darfur region of Sudan, it's important always to keep in mind that the Sudanese govt is Arab Sunni Muslim and that it has been sponsoring the ongoing terrorism against and spoliation of Sudan's indigenous Black Sufi-influenced Muslim population in Darfur. There are additional dimensions to the conflict, in that population pressures are present, with increase of numbers among the nomadic Janjaweed driving the latter's expansion of territory. In contrast, the Black Darfurians are/were settled farmers scratching livelihoods from soil that is far from the richest in the world. In that setting, an image haunts me, an image that serves as a metaphor: the account encountered on numerous occasions of Janjaweed dumping the dead bodies of Darfurians into the wells, so important for life and farming. Well-ruination was a common tactic of the Janjaweed, as was rape. I'm not uptodate on whether these practices have mitigated, but the sources I try to monitor claim there is no let-up in the attacks or the govt's favouritism to the Janjaweed terrorists.
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