“We cannot afford anything because everything is expensive. There are shops in the camp but their goods are expensive,” camp resident Noor Ibrahim told Rudaw on Monday. “Our children cry but we cannot buy them anything.”
Ibrahim is one one of the hundreds of thousands of people who fled the towns of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) in northern Syria after Turkey and its Syrian proxies gained control of them during a military operation in October 2019. The towns were previously controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Ibrahim, her husband and two children fled Sari Kani and arrived in Hasaka city, where they resided until recently in vacant schools. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), known to Kurds as Rojava, decided recently to move them to the newly-established Sari Kani Camp, east of Hasaka. The NES says the move was made to restore the schools to a place of learning ahead of the new academic year.
Sari Kani camp is six kilometers away from downtown Hasaka. Rojava authorities have set up nearly 800 tents so far and plan to set up a total of 2,600 tents.
Salih Elhimedi, co-chair of the camp, told Rudaw that “14 schools have been emptied so far but three of them have not been completely emptied due to their special conditions,” adding that 789 tents have been set up in the camp for 587 families. There are 3,060 people.
The camp administrations in Rojava only provide water and bread, locals say.
Khalid Ibrahim, co-chair of humanitarian organizations in Rojava’s Jazira Region, said that Rojava has some 15 official and unofficial camps. “The United Nations agencies have not entered the unofficial ones. Only the Autonomous Administration and some humanitarian agencies provide aid.”
The co-chair also said that there are some 1,000,000 displaced people in Rojava. Of this, about 400,000 live in camps, including people from Afrin who fled to Shahba.
He blamed the Syrian regime for preventing the flow of international aid to Rojava.
Elhimedi had previously told Rudaw that “[Sari Kane] camp is built like a city neighbourhood. It has a health station and we are about to prepare two others. Three schools will be opened up. The self-administration will provide food for the IDPs.”
Additional reporting by Viviyan Fatah
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