Over 2.1 million displaced civilians repatriated in freed regions: Cabinet
Displaced children who fled the clashes queue to receive aid from Iraqi security forces in Antesaar neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
In a press briefing, Saad al-Hadithi, the government spokesperson, said cabinet tackled the preparations made by government to receive displaced civilians from Tal Afar as well as regions located in the far west of Anbar.
Hadithi indicated the government’s efforts to secure the refugee shelters and provide them with basic needs until they return back to their freed regions
Since beginning of the year, Iraqi troops have gained control on large areas of regions that were held by the Islamic State militant group in 2014, when it emerged to proclaim its self-styled ‘caliphate’
On Sunday, Prime Minister Haid al-Abadi said his government drafted a program to repatriate the displaced people to the city of Mosul, which was declared free of IS on July 10.
Last month, Raad al-Dalaki, chairman of the parliament’s Migration and Displacement Committee, said the number of families repatriated to their hometowns in Nineveh, Salahuddin, Anbar and Diyala does not exceed 50 percent of the total of displaced civilians.
More than four million civilians were displaced since Islamic State took over a third of Iraq in 2014 and as Iraqi forces launched offensives to retake those regions. The Iraqi government previously indicated plans to repatriate more than one million displaced civilians before the end of this year.