City of Two Springs

I'm going to put a map on the table,

if I may, just to make the points.

You want me to hold it? - Let me just put it here.

We think there are 150.000 people here.

400.000 civilians in the Old City.

In this part of Western Mosul

still under the control of ISIL...

probably another 100.000 people.

So under the control of ISIL,

as many as half a million civilians.

This is genuinely uncharted territory.

But trust me we bend over backwards...

to minimise the damage

to civilian population and infrastructure.

There is an aspiration...

that the Iraqi's like to complete the liberation

of West Mosul before Ramadan.

That would clearly be fantastic.

When we were doing our scenario planning for Mosul...

our worst case was that a million people would come out.

That was our worst case.

We are right now at half of that.

We have always been very clear

that humanitarians of the government...

nor partners will be able to cope with that.

Part of the reason, ambassador,

we are thankful you convene this meeting, because...

that is staring at us. The worst case is staring at us.

Bring a chair up.

In this area we have five camps. Four are open...

and one will be opened next week.

If the next camp is open, how many tents do you have?

1560 tents.

1560... - Tents.

If you see the number we have about 13.000 families.

13.588. We can say 13.000 families in these camps.

Where are we going? Are we walking or driving?

Shall we take off our shoes? - It's okay, don't worry.

Hello. - Hello.

This is the ambassador, a very important person.

He lives in a country far away.

So when IS has left and things are

calm in Mosul and you return...

what are you looking forward to?

Soon you'll go back, I am sure.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A beautiful woman. - That's a good idea.

And what do you want to be? Where is my...

He doesn't speak. Yeah.

Thank you. Bye.

You are not coming? - No, have a good trip.

And a lot of strength the coming days.

Thank you. I heard you were allowed to come, but no?

No.

Thank you for this.

Your excellency, I would love to have a

whatsapp from you with the pictures.

Thank you for all the help. We'll be in touch. Bye bye.

Let's move now to operational issues.

We have a bunch of them...

including the situation with the bridges.

Ruben, you want to talk us through operational matters?

To start with the bridges. The bridges have been down...

for at least 24 hours.

And we only have enough supplies...

how many people came out yesterday?

For how many people do we have supplies?

When are we in trouble?

In two or three days based on the current outflows.

Stocks of tents for example. We have approximately 3000.

Can we talk about the chemical attacks?

We are at a total of 92 suspect cases.

The federal police have accused IS

of using chemical weapons.

Including incidents in the last 72 hours

with exposure to coalition forces.

Thanks. And welcome back.

Anything else? Good, thanks, see you in a day or two.

The Americans... or the coalition

doesn't know what to do.

I get that, but we got to find a way to overcome this.

I think the problem is as follows...

I think that the military still sees this

as a civilian catch problem.

What do you do with the civilians that flee?

How do we catch them?

For humanitarians the fundamental issue is:

how do we tell the civilians what to do?

Do we tell them to stay? Or do we tell them to go?

What is the best for civilian protection?

How do we save the most lives?

Okay, cheers. Bye.

There is a possibility that we see Aedel tomorrow.

I need to work on this.

I am working on the press statement.

Okay.

This doesn't make sense.

We have got 400.000 in the Old City.

We have a 150.000 in areas which have been retaken.

And we have got another 100.000

in the neighbourhoods that haven't been retaken.

So unless if my math is completely off,

that is a lot more than 500.000.

It is 400.000 plus a 150.000 plus another 100.000...

it's 650.000 people still in Western Mosul.

That sounds right if you add them up.

You are the guys on the ground. Tell me what is going on!

These are government figures.

The estimated population currently displaced...

leads us to a figure of 500.000...

in inaccessible areas. That is ISIS controlled areas.

Alright: the UN estimates that as many as 500.000 people

remain in ISIL controlled areas?

Including 400.000 in the densely populated Old City.

Is that a correct statement?

Yeah, that's correct.

Okay, that makes more sense to me.

The heart of the matter is the protection of civilians.

Whether the prime minister says: you stay or you go...

because he has to make a judgement call.

Because the Old City is entirely encircled.

So we need a judgement call.

All of the other issues are subsidiary issues.

We are literally in the dying hours of the Mosul battle.

And I think increasingly thoughts will turn to:

what next.

The number of people who are being displaced...

and the pace of their displacement...

there is nothing else comparable in the world.

We have calculated the damage and loss assessments...

for the first phase of stabilisation.

Housing.

The cost of immediate stabilisation: 87 million.

Roads and bridges: 70 million.

Sewerage: 7 million.

Getting the roads cleaned and opened: 107 million.

Electricity: 150 million.

Water: 12.

What is the total? - The total is 707 million.

I know.

Estimates on demining?

No, we don't have demining yet.

We don't know how much contamination there is.

How much would it cost to put things back up?

It is not reconstruction. This is first phase stabilisation.

I am good. How are you, sir?

We'll be over here.

They don't normally compliment me for

accusing the government of corruption.

Sorry, madam... - Excellency, good morning.

How are you, excellency?

What is the date? - Today is the 19th.

The 19th.

Thank you very much. - Excellency, thank you.

We have given our promise to the Iraqi government

and the Iraqi people...

that you can count on us.

That we will do everything we can...

to bring people back to their homes.

So they can restart their lives.

The document that we've just signed with doctor Al-Allaq...

authorises the UN to accelerate work

on 202 stabilisation projects...

in Eastern Mosul and in the Nineveh Plains

areas that have been liberated from IS.

That is important. Without that

authorisation we would not move forward.

Do you think I can see his excellency for two minutes?

Is that possible?

Excellency, can I see you for two minutes? - Yes.

It's the issue of...

nerve agents. Do you know about this? - No.

Okay. Two federal police...

were treated at a World Health Organisation hospital in Mosul.

They have the symptoms of a nerve agent.

Not a blistering agent, a nerve agent.

Very, very serious.

Can you send me any...? - You have to ask me.

Someone from the Ministry of Health has to ask me, the UN...