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New Zealand offers aid to Iraqi refugees as battle for Mosul deepens

Xinhua, October 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

The New Zealand government said on Tuesday that it would provide 1 million NZ dollars (718,600 U.S. dollars) to help refuges from the embattled Iraqi city of Mosul.

The funding to help meet the humanitarian needs of people affected by the battle to liberate Mosul from Islamic State insurgents would be provided through the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Foreign Minister Murray McCully said.

New Zealand would also support the United Nations' work to coordinate the humanitarian response in Mosul, by funding an information management and mapping specialist to help track the flows of internally displaced persons.

"The campaign to retake Mosul is a watershed moment in the fight against ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)," McCully said in a statement.

"Mosul is Iraq's second largest city and one of ISIL's remaining territorial strongholds. The campaign to liberate it from ISIL will not be easy, and in the worst case scenario could displace hundreds of thousands of civilians," he said.

New Zealand's funding will help IOM and its partners develop emergency sites to provide shelter and essential assistance to those who choose to move out of the city, he added.

The announcement brought New Zealand's total humanitarian assistance to those affected by violence in Syria and Iraq to 25 million NZ dollars (17.96 million U.S. dollars). Endit