Internally displaced persons set up makeshift camps in Iraq

“We didn’t have a choice,” explained Muhammad Bilal, a 43 year old Iraqi man who is now living in an improvised camp outside of Al Hillah, the capital of Babil province of Iraq. Bilal, like thousands of other Iraqis sold his possessions in order to purchase tents and other supplies for his camp, reported the IRIN on Sunday.

Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are strained already from trying to provide for the internally displaced persons in Iraq welcome the initiative that Bilal and about 2,800 others like him have taken in order to support themselves. Saluwa Abdel-Aziz from the Iraqi Voices of Freedom NGO hopes that his organization will soon be able to give more assistance to those setting up their own camps, as well as those trying to start their own.

While families are enjoying the relative peace and security that the camps provide right now, the government is concerned that these camps could just increase the violence in the safer regions of Iraq. Many are concerned that the militants will be drawn to the camps and bring instability to the cities nearby.

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