UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that the number of civilians displaced by violence in Anbar province in west Iraq continues to climb due to escalating fighting early this year, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here Friday.
"With a deteriorating security situation, it is also becoming harder for humanitarian workers to reach people in need," Haq said at a daily news briefing here.
"As of today, the Iraqi government says that 434,000 men, women and children have fled their homes since fighting escalated in January this year," he said. "However, the Iraqi authorities have had to suspend registration over the past month because of insecurity."
The current figure of people being displaced is now close to 480,000, said Haq, quoting the UNHCR data.
A UNHCR special appeal for 26.4 million U.S. dollars, launched in March, is currently only 12 percent funded, Haq said. "Better funding is critical to help those who are displaced now, and when they return home in the future."
Anbar province has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi, the provincial capital about 110 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, in late December last year.
Anbar province is the largest province in Iraq geographically. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
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