Anbar’s Displaced Stay Away

Jabbar Salman, 47, lives with his four family members in a small house in the al-Rashad neighborhood close to the largely Shia Sadr City, an east Baghdad suburb.

They have been there since they were forced to flee their spacious home in Anbar province, in western Iraq, in February 2006.

According to Salman, gunmen besieged his house, ordering him and his family to leave within three hours or they would be killed.

“Some of the gunmen were my neighbours. They allowed us to carry our personal things only; we were concerned about our lives rather than about our property,” he said.

While Salman is upset that he has to live in cramped conditions, he said he cannot go back to Anbar. “I won’t return because I fear members of my family might be killed by the Sahawat,” he said.

Sahawat is a reference to awakening councils – made up of members of Sunni tribes who allied with the Americans after turning their backs on al-Qaeda.

He says that despite the loss of his house, he feels comfortable among members of his immediate and extended family, “I live in Sadr City close to my brothers and relatives – this is my utmost relief.”

Salman explained that all his relatives in Anbar were expelled in 2006 and 2007. He said they all chose to go to Sadr City because they had originally lived there, and because the security was better compared to other places in Baghdad.

“I decided to sell my house to permanently settle in Sadr City, because I can no longer live with Sunni,” he said.

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