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| Iraq |
| Human Rights Ministry announces end of Christian's displacement in Mosul |
| 2008-10-20 |
| Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq's Human Right Ministry on Sunday said the exodus of Displaced Christian families from Mosul has been stopped since Wednesday after Iraqi security forces took control over the volatile city. "Displaced Christian families currently live either with other families or in Churches, as they refused to reside in camps that were established to receive them," Ghanem al-Ghanem from the Human Righs Ministry told Aswat al-Iraq. The exodus of close to half of Mosul's Christians shows the fragility of security gains, especially in areas where cultures, religions and ethnicities collide. It also raises the specter of violence ahead of provincial elections that could alter the power balance in strategic cities like Mosul. So far, no one has taken responsibility for the deaths of about 12 Christians this month, which were followed by death threats and property attacks that prompted thousands to flee. "The number of displaced Christian families registered by the ministry has reached about 2270," he said. "The Ministry will not allow those families to return to Mosul city (405 km north of Baghdad) unless being sure of providing security to them," he pledged. It isn't the first time that members of Iraq's Christian community, who number in the hundreds of thousands, have fallen prey to the bloodshed that has convulsed Iraq since 2003. Earlier this year, Mosul's aging Chaldean Archbishop, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped. His body was found two weeks later despite pleas from Iraqi religious figures and Pope Benedict for his release. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 The same way PA ended the exodus of Displaced Christian families from Beit Lehem? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-10-20 17:13 |