The German government is providing 4.4 million euros to support refugees fleeing the crimes perpetrated by ISIS. The international community is now called on to take action to protect the people in Iraq, explained government spokesperson Steffen Seibert in Berlin. But, the political forces in the country must also come together again.
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The situation in Iraq is worsening steadily. The Islamic terrorist group ISIS took control of parts of the country in June, and the last few days have seen further ISIS gains in the province of Ninewah. Thousands of people have fled their homes.
"Our focus is [...] to get concrete and swift aid to the people currently in an absolutely desperate situation," declared government spokesperson Steffen Seibert.
The German government is making available a total of 4.4 million euros for emergency aid measures. This aid is destined primarily for the region of Iraqi Kurdistan, where most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are at present. According to the United Nations, some 200,000 people from Ninewah region have been forced to flee their homes.
To guarantee swift assistance, the German government is in contact with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and with international and German aid organisations.
In their self-proclaimed caliphate, the ISIS terrorists are currently focussing their violence on religious minorities, who have lived in and around Mosul for centuries. But Muslims who reject ISIS’s ideology are also at risk.
"The murder, systematic expulsion and forced conversion of Christians, Yazidi and members of other minorities at the hands of ISIS terrorists in Iraq mark a new dimension to the brutal ISIS terror," declared Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. ISIS actions are a threat to peace and stability throughout the region.
The key to a stable Iraq is for the political forces in the country to reach agreement with the government.
"It is quite clear that there will be a political solution," said Steffen Seibert. To counter attacks by the Islamist terror organisation ISIS the political forces in Iraq will have to come together again, he said. For this the country’s political institutions must once again be enabled to act – with the involvement of all religious and other sections of Iraqi society.
"It is a challenge for the international community and all political forces in Iraq to counter this terror organisation and its unspeakable crimes," said the government spokesperson.