Sudanese woman arrives with her children at a refugee camp run by the Jordanian Red Crescent in the Ruweished region near the Jordan-Iraq

By Asif Farooqi, IOL Correspondent

Ruweished, Jordan, March 28 (IslamOnline.net) -  It was a hard decision but events in the last two hours made it easier for him to wake his wife and children up in the middle of the night and leave the besieged city of Baghdad on foot. It took him three days to reach the closest border to Jordan , almost empty handed and with no money or belongings. But he was happy. "The frightening night was over".

Being a driver, Ageo Malwal, wouldn't anyways might have made a fortune while working in Iraqi capital. But whatever he earned during the two decades of hard labor now was left behind.

"I never wanted to leave my home but there was no choice," the 51 year-old Sudanese national told Islamonline.net while queuing up to register his seven member family with the management of the refugees camp near the Ruweished town 60 kilometer border away from the Jordan-Iraq border.

The camp has been established by the International Organization of Migration for the third country nationals who were fleeing the Iraqi towns and cities for safety in Jordan .

Before finally being dispatched to their respective country, non-Iraqi refugees are kept in these recently erected tents. Since the refugees, like the family
of Malwal, may not have enough money to reach their countries, they may end up staying in this camp till the war comes to an end and they can go back from where they have come.

No Iraqi Refugees

While the refugee tents set up by the UNHCR deeper inside Jordan to home Iraqi refugees give deserted look as none of the Iraqis choose to be a refugee, the IOM camp for third country nationals is slowly buzzing with activity as more and more refugees arrive in the camp every day.

Malwal family was among the group of refugees who arrive at this camp on the 7th day of the war in Iraq . The latest arrivals at the camp saw through the initial four days of intense bombing over their city and neighborhood. 

"I had initially decided I won't leave Baghdad even if it is bombed. But the intensity of the bombing which was increasing day by day, frightened my children" Ageo Malwal said.

Hassan Ahmed Ibrahem, 41 year-old Somali, like many others in his locality in Baghdad left the city as he witnessed an apartment building collapsing next door. "It was horrible. It was zarbe kabir (big hit) and I just could not hold on," he said.

Hasaan was also not sure about his future and the fate of his children and other family member who were dependant on the money he used to send from Iraq .

"While I stay at this camp I have nothing to send to my family and the thought of how they will manage bothers me a lot," Hassan said, adding he was helpless and wanted the war to come to an end.

'This Time Is Different'

Ibrahem Khbajan Eritarian, another refugee, had witnessed the 91 Gulf War from his apartment in downtown Baghdad but this time he says it was different.

"The kind of relentless and indiscriminate bombing I experienced was too much ahead of what we had anticipated," he said. Ibrahem expressed surprise when he was told that the U.S. authorities have been claiming that they are bombing military targets not civilian population in Baghdad .

"The building which was attacked three times in three days could not have been a military target. I have been visiting that building in my neighborhood for years and it was a commercial building with many shops," he said.

Abdul Latif Muhammad Adam was among a group of Sudanese construction workers who had decided that they will not go back to their countries in the wake of impeding war. But as the bombing began, he was among the first ones to flee.

"The bombs were dropping on the residential areas and none of us felt safe," he said.

"It was like sitting and waiting for the death," Adam added. He said most of his friends had left the city on the third day of the U.S.-led bombing but he was not sure about their whereabouts.

"But I would say they are safe if they are not in Baghdad . Because Baghdad is worse than hell now," he added.