By — Larisa Epatko Larisa Epatko Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/aid-groups-confront-land-mines-ethnic-tensions-in-mosul-conflict Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Aid groups confront land mines, ethnic tensions in Mosul conflict World Dec 9, 2016 1:23 PM EDT Bruno Geddo, UNHCR’s representative in Iraq, describes efforts to help Mosul’s people. Tens of thousands of Iraqis are fleeing the brutal battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State fighters. And relief organizations are learning they need to navigate ethnic tensions, along with booby trapped terrain, in their efforts to help. In case there’s a sudden outflow of people, aid organizations are building more camps closer to the northern city, the U.N. refugee agency’s Iraq representative Bruno Geddo told the PBS NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan. An Iraqi girl displaced by the fighting in Mosul teaches her brother in a camp on Dec. 9. Photo by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters They not only have to carefully check for land mines in these new locations, but also make sure they are cognizant of the area’s ethnic makeup, he said. “It may be in an area which is ethnically unacceptable for Sunni displaced people to be taken in,” said Geddo. “We do not want to be unwittingly contributing to creating ethnic tensions.” If the Mosul people “are received and treated with respect and escorted to safety by friendly forces, that is the best way for the humanitarians to give them shelter, food, water, (and) in time the best way to counter the toxic narrative” of the Islamic State, he said. By — Larisa Epatko Larisa Epatko Larisa Epatko produced multimedia web features and broadcast reports with a focus on foreign affairs for the PBS NewsHour. She has reported in places such as Jordan, Pakistan, Iraq, Haiti, Sudan, Western Sahara, Guantanamo Bay, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Turkey, Germany and Ireland. @NewsHourWorld
Bruno Geddo, UNHCR’s representative in Iraq, describes efforts to help Mosul’s people. Tens of thousands of Iraqis are fleeing the brutal battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State fighters. And relief organizations are learning they need to navigate ethnic tensions, along with booby trapped terrain, in their efforts to help. In case there’s a sudden outflow of people, aid organizations are building more camps closer to the northern city, the U.N. refugee agency’s Iraq representative Bruno Geddo told the PBS NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan. An Iraqi girl displaced by the fighting in Mosul teaches her brother in a camp on Dec. 9. Photo by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters They not only have to carefully check for land mines in these new locations, but also make sure they are cognizant of the area’s ethnic makeup, he said. “It may be in an area which is ethnically unacceptable for Sunni displaced people to be taken in,” said Geddo. “We do not want to be unwittingly contributing to creating ethnic tensions.” If the Mosul people “are received and treated with respect and escorted to safety by friendly forces, that is the best way for the humanitarians to give them shelter, food, water, (and) in time the best way to counter the toxic narrative” of the Islamic State, he said.