Iraq's Christians looking for sanctuary in Kurdish north

AFP:

"We don't have any choice," says a squatter gesturing to the new home he has made for his family in a Christian cemetery in Iraqi Kurdistan, after fleeing violence-plagued Baghdad.

"We are afraid of the snakes and scorpions, especially with the children, but it's better than sleeping without a roof," says Imad Matti who has just moved his wife and children into the Inkawa necropolis outside the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil.

Iraq and the rest of the world are rightly worried about Shiite and Sunni Muslims forced to flee their homes around the country because of raging communal violence.

But the exodus of Christians from the capital, which Kurdish officials say has seen 70 families arrive in Inkawa in recent weeks, has not received the same attention.

The families cite the same dire situation in Baghdad, where threats from armed groups and attacks on businesses from drinks shops to hairdressing salons are rife.

Now Matti lives in a room that used to be the cemetery watchman's hut, while nearby Haval Emmanuel's family has improvised their home in adobe among the tombs.

"Living in an adobe hut in oil-rich Iraq," says Emmanuel, observing the irony of his family's predicament. "But as difficult as the conditions are we accept them -- because we can't endanger the lives of our loved ones."

But Christian leaders are reluctant to speak out about the problems faced by their congregations. The head of the Chaldean Catholic church Emmanuel Dely refused to discuss the issue with AFP.

It was the Arab League's representative in the war-torn country, Mokhtar Lamani of Morocco, who drew attention to a problem which he said affected all of Iraq's religious minorities, not just Christians.

"During a recent visit to Kurdistan, I found out that all members of the Mandaean community in Baghdad... have asked for mass migration to the region," Lamani told AFP.

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Mandaean worship John the Baptist for reasons I have not heard. They apparently do not believe in Christ which seem strage when you consider that John the Baptist did. What this story shows is that the enemy in Iraq doesn't just murder Shia who he deems a threat because they are the majority, but also murders Christians whose community is so small it is a zero threat to anyone in Iraq. It is further evidence of the religious bigotry of the enemy. That bigotry is the root cause and the driving force of al Qaeda in Iraq and elsewhere.