AL-KHAZAR CAMP, July 17, 2014 (AFP) - The head of the UN's refugee agency praised Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan for welcoming hundreds of thousands of displaced people and urged the world to offer it "massive" support.

Antonio Guterres told reporters during a visit to the Al-Khazar camp for displaced Iraqis that he was "humbled by the generosity and the solidarity of the government and of the people of Kurdistan in this very difficult moment."

People forced from their homes in Iraq's Nineveh governorate since a jihadist-led offensive that started on June 9 have fled en masse to neighbouring Kurdistan, which has remained largely stable.

Guterres stressed that the autonomous region had already borne a heavy burden with an earlier influx of refugees from war-torn Syria and he added that the strain was made worse by the fact that the government in Baghdad had stopped sending Arbil its share of federal oil revenue.

"And even without those resources, the government and people of Kurdistan have been receiving all these people and sharing with them everything they have," he said.

Kurdistan and the Shiite-dominated federal government have been locked in an escalating war of words in recent weeks.

Arbil blames Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the security collapse that saw extremist Sunni militants seize large swathes of land in western and northern Iraq.

Maliki has in turn accused the Kurdish leadership of taking advantage of the chaos to expand the borders of its envisioned independent state by moving into disputed territories, and of illegally exporting Iraqi oil.

Guterres, who met Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Wednesday, urged the international community "to provide massive support for the Iraqis displaced, for the Iraqi victims of this conflict, but also to provide massive support to the government and the people in Kurdistan."

He said that the population of internally displaced people in Iraq now topped two million.

Erbil, Kurdistan (KRG.org) – Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani earlier this week met with the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Ambassador William Lacy Swing, and his accompanying delegation.

The deteriorating security situation in Mosul and in other areas of Iraq, which has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people to the Kurdistan Region, was discussed in the meeting, as well as the efforts of the KRG to provide the basic needs and improve the living conditions of the internally displaced people.

The IOM Director General expressed his organisation’s gratitude to the Prime Minister and to the people of Kurdistan, praising the KRG’s efforts in helping the displaced people and providing them with shelter and security.

He also highlighted the fact that the Kurdistan Region had already opened its doors to Syrian refugees and Iraq’s internally displaced people and treated them suitably. He explained that IOM is preparing a detailed report about the life and the welfare of displaced people and their needs, and it will be raised in the near future with members of the international community in Geneva. The Director General added that his organisation highly values the efforts of the KRG, which has been able to assist victims in a humanitarian manner during an extremely difficult situation.

Prime Minister Barzani expressed his gratitude for the work of the International Organisation for Migration. He pointed out that the KRG, its institutions, and even the people of the Kurdistan Region have given their utmost support and assistance to refugees and the internally displaced. However, this is a heavy burden, and the Kurdistan Region alone cannot accommodate all the needs of the refugees and the displaced people, especially because their numbers are growing daily.

The Prime Minister emphasised the need for the Iraqi Government and the international community to assume responsibility for the refugees and displaced people and to provide support and assistance. He said, “Despite our financial constraints caused by Baghdad’s decision to cut our budget and salaries, we will shoulder this humanitarian responsibility and offer assistance to these displaced people to the extent that our capacity allows.”
 
Prime Minister Barzani urged the IOM to encourage the Iraqi Government and the international community to earnestly assume responsibility for this issue and to establish an appropriate mechanism to tackle any possible developments, including an increase in the numbers of refugees and internally displaced.