More Than Half of Iraq's Displaced Have Returned Home

Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)
Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)
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More Than Half of Iraq's Displaced Have Returned Home

Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)
Iraqis flee from the Old City of Mosul on July 5, 2017, during the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the city from ISIS. (AFP / Ahmad Al-rubaye)

More than half of Iraqis displaced by conflict to other parts of the country have returned to their homes, the UN migration agency said on Thursday.

At the end of December, more than 3.2 million displaced Iraqis had gone home while 2.6 millions still lived away, the International Organization for Migration said.

"The retaking of areas by the Iraqi forces is significant, as is the improvement of security," said IOM communications officer Sandra Black.

More than a third of those internally displaced are in the northern province of Nineveh, after tens of thousands fled second city Mosul during the months-long military campaign to retake the city from ISIS.

More than one million Iraqis have returned home to the Sunni-majority western province of Anbar, from which Iraqi forces expelled the last militants late last year.

Nearly one third are reported to have returned to houses that have been significantly or completely damaged, Agence France Presse quoted Black as saying.

Around 60 percent went back to housing that was only moderately damaged.

Other infrastructure has also been affected in the fighting, with residents in some areas reporting no water or power supply.



France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
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France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)

Paris declined to comment on Algeria’s “strong condemnation” of the French government’s decision to recognize Morocco’s claim over the Sahara.

The office of the French Foreign Ministry refused to respond to an AFP request for a comment on the Algeria’s stance.

It did say that further comments could impact the trip Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is set to make to France in late September or early October.

The visit has been postponed on numerous occasions over disagreements between the two countries.

France had explicitly expressed its constant and clear support for the autonomy rule proposal over the Sahara during Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s visit to Morocco in February, reported AFP.

The position has helped improve ties between Rabat and Paris.

On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Ministry expressed “great regret and strong denunciation" about the French government's decision to recognize an autonomy plan for the Western Sahara region "within Moroccan sovereignty”.

Algeria was informed of the decision by France in recent days, an Algerian foreign ministry statement added.

The ministry also said Algeria would draw all the consequences from the decision and hold the French government alone completely responsible.