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The U.N.
Refugee Agency says it is growing increasingly
concerned about a group of more than 100 Iranian
Kurd refugees who are stuck at the Iraqi/Jordanian
border. The agency says the group arrived at the
border in three batches over the past four weeks.
The U.N. Refugee Agency says the group of Iranian
Kurds includes at least five pregnant women and a
large number of children. UNHCR Spokesman, Ron
Redmond, says these people had been staying in Al
Tash, a long-standing refugee camp in Iraq.
He says the camp is located around 60 kilometers
from the city of Falluja and only 12 kilometers from
Ramadi. Both places were scenes of heavy fighting in
the autumn. He says Al Tash camp was badly affected
by the fighting and that may explain why the Iranian
Kurds decided to leave.
"We believe the initial spark that prompted this was
some of the unrest that was the result or the
violence and fear of that in November," Mr. Redmond
said. "So, they may have moved toward the border
because of that, but we still need to get access to
these people to determine what it was that prompted
them to move. But, we feel it was linked possibly to
that violence."
Mr. Redmond says the refugees have not been allowed
to enter Jordan, nor to join another group of about
600 refugees - also mostly Iranian Kurds from Al
Tash. They have been living in a camp in the
so-called no-man's land between the two countries
for the past year and a half.
He says the UNHCR has been considering the
possibility of providing assistance to the refugees
from the Iraqi side. But, he notes the security
situation along the road from Baghdad to the border
is bad and may prevent this.
He says officials from the Iraqi Ministries of
Migration and Health are planning to go to the
border area, security permitting. If they succeed,
he says the officials will take some much needed
basic relief supplies with them. He says the
refugees are staying in a makeshift settlement along
the border. He says they are living a precarious
hand-to-mouth existence.
"The refugees are believed to be surviving on the
charities of passersby and this is a situation that
will not be tenable for much longer," he said.
"Weather conditions are bad and the refugees are
reported to be growing increasingly desperate. There
are also sick people in that group, but no medical
assistance has been able to reach them so far."
Spokesman Ron Redmond says the UNHCR is exploring
several options to help these people. These include
the possibility of relocating them to other areas of
Northern Iraq or returning them to the Al Tash camp.
In the meantime, he says the agency is telling both
the Iraqi and Jordanian authorities that the Iranian
Kurds must receive food, medical care and other
material assistance without further delay.
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