Uncertainty follows Shiites’ return home

Uncertainty follows Shiites’ return home
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, September 29, 2008

BAGHDAD — Samia Agil Sail fled Baghdad’s Ghazaliya neighborhood two years ago after receiving threats from several people in the Sunni-dominated area. In one case, gunmen came into the Shiite woman’s home and shot at the ceiling.

Sail got tired of being away from her home, though. Although she didn’t know Ghazaliya’s security situation, she and her family of nine decided to return home two months ago.

"If it’s my fate to die in this house, that’s my fate," she said.

But getting back into the house proved more difficult than just sweeping the dust off the unused floors. A squatter had taken up residence while Sail’s family was away. She had to go through the courts to force him and his family out. When she eventually got into her home, she found that the squatters had stolen everything they owned — even their clothes. Sail can’t even enjoy the return in peace because she has seen the squatter driving down her street twice since she returned.

For many families forced out of their homes by sectarian violence, the difficulties are just beginning when they walk through their doorway after months or years of being gone.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57750