Aid operation launched for Falluja residents

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21577024.htm

GENEVA, Dec 21 (Reuters) - An international aid agency said on Tuesday it had launched an emergency operation to deliver supplies to an estimated 216,000 Iraqis who had fled fighting in Falluja. snip

"Needs are great, especially now that the wet and windy winter season has set in. The idea is to distribute the aid before they go back," spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) told a briefing. snip

IOM's two-week aid operation, costing some $1.2 million, aims to deliver blankets, heaters, plastic sheeting, cooking sets, stoves and hygiene items to nine locations around Falluja, Chauzy said.

The Geneva-based IOM is also in charge of a programme to allow several million exiled Iraqis to take part in the country's first free elections next month.

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