“This is a castle compared to how we were living the past three years, especially in the past two weeks,” said Khodeira, a mother of six children when she arrived at the camp, quoted by a UN press release. “We are happy to be settled now. I hope our ordeal will soon be over.”
The government-constructed camp named Nimrud is located approximately 55 kilometers from Tal Afar. It is being managed by the Iraqi Salvation Humanitarian Organization (ISHO) on behalf the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, and can accommodate about 3,600 families (22,000 individuals).
“We are grateful to the Iraqi authorities for developing Nimrud camp with significant housing capacity,” said Bruno Geddo, UNHCR representative in Iraq. “The handover of the camp to UNHCR is an excellent example of the level of trust and co-operation we have established in supporting the government response to the displacement crisis in Iraq.”
On Saturday, the camp received nearly 350 families and another 1,500 families are expected to arrive from the UNHCR’s transit site in Hammam al-Alil within the coming days.
“Our partners and our team are identifying the most vulnerable, providing everyone with the basic relief items that they need in order to lead a dignified life in this camp,” said the head of UNHCR’s Mosul office, Hovig Etyemezian, at the camp’s opening ceremony on Saturday.
The camp will still require more construction work to complete water sanitation services and electricity infrastructure.
The Iraqi army announced Sunday that their forces are now in full control of the city of Tal Afar, just eight days after the launch of the operation against ISIS militants.
Military operations are now ongoing north of the city.
In the lead up to the military operations, there was a surge of families fleeing Tal Afar and surrounding areas. More than 40,000 people have been displaced from the town since April according to government figures.
ISIS militants captured the Turkmen majority town of Tal Afar about three years ago as they also controlled large areas in both Iraq and Syria.
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