DUBAI, 15 April 2007 (IRIN) - DUBAI, 15 April 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS   IRAQ: "Humanitarian catastrophe" looms in Diwaniyah IRAQ: Government gives out cash to returning families IRAQ: Medical waste a growing health hazard IRAQ: Renewed calls for media protection IRAQ: Mentally handicapped children used in attacks IRAQ: Saleh Rabia'a, Iraq "The war made me lose my children and my wife ISRAEL: NGOs struggle to feed 200,000 hungry families LEBANON: Political crisis hampering post-war reconstruction OPT: More Gazans at risk from new sewage flood YEMEN-AFRICA: Smugglers drown African migrants YEMEN: Government accused of planting landmines SOMALIA-YEMEN: More than 15,000 Somali refugees live in squalid conditions

IRAQ: "Humanitarian catastrophe" looms in Diwaniyah

A week of fierce clashes between US-Iraqi forces and Shia militiamen in Diwaniyah has brought the city to the brink of a "real humanitarian catastrophe", health workers said on Wednesday. Aid agencies and doctors are demanding they be given access to a desperate population who have become prisoners in their own homes.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71559

IRAQ: Government gives out cash to returning families

The Iraqi government is giving out a cash inducement of one million Iraqi dinars (about US $800) to each displaced family in Baghdad willing to return to their original home, the country's Displacement and Migration Ministry said on Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71576

IRAQ: Medical waste a growing health hazard

Raghed Sarmad, 32, and her two children, aged seven and eight, spend their days scavenging through piles of rubbish in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in search of anything they can sell for food. She prefers medical waste, because there is a greater chance of finding items of some value. Sarmad is oblivious to the numerous diseases they could catch by handling such waste.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71225

IRAQ: Renewed calls for media protection

The arrests, abductions and murders of journalists in Iraq are severely limiting the ability of media outlets to effectively report the escalating humanitarian crises in the war-torn country, specialists say. In the run-up to the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, on 9 April, media associations are calling on the government and armed groups to respect the rights of journalists.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71231

IRAQ: Mentally handicapped children used in attacks

The dreams 13-year-old Barak Muhammad (not his real name) had of leading a normal teenage life were dashed when his father sold him to al-Qaeda militants. Being mentally handicapped, he said he was considered a burden by his family and was told he would be better off sacrificing his life for his country.

"I don't have a mother and never went to school. I was dreaming of a day that I would go to school like my other brothers, but I was considered different. My father was always telling me that I was a mistake in his life, a boy that was just bringing expenses and problems," Barak said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71257

IRAQ: Saleh Rabia'a, Iraq "The war made me lose my children and my wife

All three of Saleh Rabia'a's children have been killed in different incidents since the US-led invasion of Iraq began in 2003. As a result, his wife Samya developed mental problems. Living alone since Samya was taken to a mental hospital, 34-year-old Rabia'a, an engineer, is struggling to control his emotions and keep his own sanity.

"I never imagined that the violence would come to my home. I've worked hard over the years to have my dreams realised - to marry a nice woman and to have many children. The dream was coming true until this war began and destroyed everything," he said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71580

ISRAEL: NGOs struggle to feed 200,000 hungry families

Single mother Ronit is one of hundreds of thousands of Israelis who rely on food handouts for her family's survival. When the 37-year-old from Tel Aviv lost her job as a secretary three years ago, her family slid into poverty, surviving off just 1,000 shekels (US $250) a month after paying rent and bills. She does not get alimony from her ex-husband and is unwilling to claim it through the courts because non-payment could see him jailed.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71574

LEBANON: Political crisis hampering post-war reconstruction

Abdullah Hassan Nasrallah proudly displays a cheque for US $11,000, compensation to repair his home in Bint Jbeil, a Shia town in southern Lebanon that was bombed by Israel during the 2006 war with the armed wing of Hezbollah.

The money was given to Nasrallah not by the Lebanese government, nor by Jihad al Binaa, Hezbollah's construction wing, nor even by Hezbollah's strategic Shia ally Iran, but by Qatar, a Sunni Gulf state that maintains trade relations with Israel.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71258

OPT: More Gazans at risk from new sewage flood

A further 800 Palestinian homes could be swamped by raw sewage in northern Gaza if the side of a lake containing sewage is not shored up immediately, the United Nations has warned.

Two children and three women were killed and 18 people injured in the Bedouin village of Umm Nasser near Beit Lahiya when an earthen embankment around a sewage reservoir collapsed on 27 March, sending a torrent of sewage and mud through the village. (See photo slideshow)

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71341

YEMEN-AFRICA: Smugglers drown African migrants

A group of 33 migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia died on Friday after smugglers forced them off their boat near the Yemeni shore, a Somali community leader in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, said on Monday.

"Smugglers forced 120 [Ethiopian and Somali] migrants into the sea before anchoring at the shore for fear of the Yemeni coastguard authorities," Sadat Mohammed, head of refugee affairs in the Somali community in Sana'a, told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71238

YEMEN: Government accused of planting landmines

The humanitarian situation in Yemen's northern province of Saada is worsening with reports that the army is laying anti-personnel mines in the area, say sources with access to the region. According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity at the Saudi-built al-Salaam Hospital in Saada city, at least 60 people have been admitted to the hospital in recent weeks with injuries caused by landmine explosions.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71562

SOMALIA-YEMEN: More than 15,000 Somali refugees live in squalid conditions

Amnah Abdul-Hamid, 26, escaped war in Somalia in search of a better life in Yemen. But since arriving four years ago, her two children have died of diarrhoea and she is now sick and destitute.

"I suffer from brain neuritis [inflammation of a nerve or nerves]. I am in dire need of help as I have no job to provide food and shelter for myself," said Amnah, a divorcee who lives and depends on a Somali family living in the predominantly Somali al-Basateen area of Aden province.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71247

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