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=> THE KILLING FIELDS

Posted by Maggie (Guest) - Wednesday, October 11 2006, 22:59:36 (CEST)
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Violence forces 1,000 Iraqis a day to flee homes: U.N. Wed Oct 11, 1:49 PM ET

GENEVA (Reuters) - Over 1,000 Iraqis are fleeing their homes each day because of rampant violence, and revenge killings are "totally out of control," the U.N.'s top humanitarian official said on Wednesday.

Jan Egeland, U.N. Under-Secretary General, told a news conference that sectarian violence and military operations had forced over 315,000 to flee their homes in the past eight months.

"Some 9,000 have been displaced every week ... even worse, perhaps 100 people are killed every day," he said.

The violence was related to sectarian killings, with Sunni Muslims being forced to flee Shi'a Muslim areas and Shias fleeing Sunni strongholds, he said.

"Revenge killings seem now to be totally out of control. Many of those killed have been killed by gunshots or tortured to death," Egeland said.

The U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator appealed to ethnic and cultural leaders to see that "this has spiraled totally out of control...It has to stop."

Between 1.2 and 1.5 million Iraqis were sheltering in neighboring states, with some 2,000 crossing into Syria each day, Egeland said.

Many of those who were fleeing were highly educated people, such as doctors, leaving the country facing a considerable brain drain, Egeland said.

"Some estimates are that universities and hospitals had a loss of up to 80 percent of their professional staff. A third or more of Iraqi professionals have also left the country," he said.

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