Dozens of Christian families go back to Mosul
ICC Note
Small number of Christian refugees returned to their homes in Mosul . But the majority of persecuted Christians who left the city have not returned back to their homes.
02/18/2009 Iraq (AsiaNews) – Over the past two months, dozens of Iraqi Christian families have returned to Mosul . In the local community, there is a climate of “hope and fear”; in Baghdad , the government seems to be paying more attention to the conditions of refugees.
Today, authorities in Mosul announced the return of a substantial group of Christian families to the city. One official confirms that “between January and February, 81 families returned to their homes.” According to the department for immigration and refugees, there are still 10,000 families of refugees in Al-Hamadaniya, a district 30 kilometers east of Mosul .
From Baghdad , there are signs of interest in the condition of refugees. The government says it is “taking care of the Christians,” and the “concrete problems” of the people are beginning to be discussed. “This aspect,” a local source confirms for AsiaNews, “is evident also in the results of the elections for the renewal of the provincial councils. Slogans of a religious nature were banned, and concrete questions were discussed: the shortage of electricity, of running water, of hospitals and health care, of telephone and postal communications, of roads and infrastructure.”
