Legions Of Iraqi Squatters Grow Even As War Recedes

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An Iraqi man walks past sewage and rubbish in a squatter camp in Baghdad in 2008.


Legions Of Iraqi Squatters Grow Even As War Recedes
by Kelly McEvers
July 15, 2010

In Iraq, about 2 million people have been displaced by the war and sectarian fighting. Aid groups estimate that nearly 500,000 of them are living in cities and towns as squatters.

U.N. officials say the Iraqi government and aid agencies are only now recognizing the magnitude of the problem. Some refugees have returned to find their homes occupied. Others were forced to flee violence as tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims erupted.

Um Sara and her family have moved five times in four years. Each time, her situation gets worse. Her Shiite family originally lived in a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad. But during the sectarian strife of 2007-07, slogans like, "This school is for Sunnis" began to appear on walls, and the bodies starting piling up.

The family fled and moved in with relatives, and later rented apartments in Shiite neighborhoods. Then the father and oldest daughter got sick, and they couldn't pay the rent.

Now, Um Sara, her ailing husband and four children live on the first floor of an abandoned office building. Raw sewage drains into the courtyard and her family and visitors have no choice but to walk through it to get into their makeshift home. Inside, it is totally dark because there is no electricity.