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Fighting
In Southern Iraq Prompts UN Agency To Halt Refugee
Returns From Iran
The United Nations refugee agency has temporarily
suspended its convoys for Iraqis wishing to return
from neighbouring Iran because of the fighting
raging in the south of the country and a housing
shortage in the north.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR) has
been running convoys from Iran to the southern Iraqi
city of Basra since last November, but spokesperson
Jennifer Pagonis told a press briefing in Geneva
today these had been stopped over the last 10 days
due to fighting in the Shiite Muslim holy city of
Najaf and the overall security situation in the
south.
In the north, UNHCR has temporarily suspended the
return of Iraqi Kurd refugees, which began in June,
after local authorities expressed concerns over the
housing shortage, a crucial issue in northern Iraq.
The agency has been working with its partners to
help build houses, provide local people with
building materials, and help rehabilitate public
buildings like schools and health clinics there.
UNHCR is not encouraging Iraqi refugees to return
for the time being, but facilitates the repatriation
of those who insist on going back. Some 13,000
people have returned from Iran, Saudi Arabia and
Lebanon with agency assistance, more than half of
them from Iran, host to the largest Iraqi refugee
population in the world. Returnees receive a package
of relief items (tents, blankets, plastic sheeting,
kitchen sets) and one-month food ration, as well as
travel assistance and mine-awareness training.
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