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Northern Iraq Flooded with Fleeing Iraqis

Aired March 19, 2003 - 14:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are also a lot of Iraqis fleeing Baghdad and they're going to Kurdish-controlled area areas of Northern Iraq. That is where we find our Jane Arraf. She is there with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People continuing to flee into Kurdish controlled territory, most of them today from Baghdad. Now these are Iraqi families who have come across, many of them from here originally.

But in one amazing story, one of the men has just been released from an Iranian prison camp where he says he has been held since 1982. The man, named Sadak (ph), said he had been released with about 1,000 other Iraqi prisoners of war in a sign of impending war around seems to be releasing the last of the Iraqi POWs. This man said he was going back to a village he has not seen in more than two decades. The children, he hopes are still there.

Meanwhile officials here say there may be an impending humanitarian crisis. The governor of Dohuk says that there are hundreds of people still on the other side of the checkpoint being prevented from leaving. On this side, Kurdish officials say 200,000 Kurds have left this city, one of the most prosperous in Northern Iraq.

Further into the countryside, there's a storm coming and a lot of these people, they say, are without shelter. They're appealing to the U.N. and aid other agencies to release humanitarian supplies that they've been saving for a refugee crisis to come. Humanitarian officials here say the crisis has already started.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from near Dohuk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired March 19, 2003 - 14:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are also a lot of Iraqis fleeing Baghdad and they're going to Kurdish-controlled area areas of Northern Iraq. That is where we find our Jane Arraf. She is there with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People continuing to flee into Kurdish controlled territory, most of them today from Baghdad. Now these are Iraqi families who have come across, many of them from here originally.

But in one amazing story, one of the men has just been released from an Iranian prison camp where he says he has been held since 1982. The man, named Sadak (ph), said he had been released with about 1,000 other Iraqi prisoners of war in a sign of impending war around seems to be releasing the last of the Iraqi POWs. This man said he was going back to a village he has not seen in more than two decades. The children, he hopes are still there.

Meanwhile officials here say there may be an impending humanitarian crisis. The governor of Dohuk says that there are hundreds of people still on the other side of the checkpoint being prevented from leaving. On this side, Kurdish officials say 200,000 Kurds have left this city, one of the most prosperous in Northern Iraq.

Further into the countryside, there's a storm coming and a lot of these people, they say, are without shelter. They're appealing to the U.N. and aid other agencies to release humanitarian supplies that they've been saving for a refugee crisis to come. Humanitarian officials here say the crisis has already started.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from near Dohuk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com