No Iraqi refugees reported, says UNHCR

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran confirmed on Thursday that no refugees had entered the country since the commencement of the conflict in Iraq eight days earlier. Iran could be on the receiving end of a major influx of refugees along its 1,458-km border with Iraq, with the refugee agency working to boost its overall state of preparedness. "We have not received any reports so far of people entering Iran," the UNHCR spokesman, Mohammad Nouri, told IRIN from the capital, Tehran. "Nonetheless, we are closely monitoring the situation should such an influx occur." The UNHCR had been watching Iraq's borders following reports of population movements within Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. According to the agency's official website on Tuesday, over the past few days, more than 22,000 Iraqis had reportedly moved to the northern Iraqi town of Banjwin, close to the Iranian border province of Kordestan. Citing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), these people had moved as a precautionary measure and had no immediate plans of crossing into Iran, the report said. The issue is of particular concern to Tehran, which remains determined not to see a repeat of 1991. Following the events of the Gulf War, about 1.3 million Iraqis sought refuge in Iran. Today, the country has the largest refugee population in the world, the vast majority of them from Afghanistan. But, according to Nouri, UNHCR is taking all necessary precautionary steps to avoid a possible crisis, moving food and non-food related items to two warehouses in the border provinces of Kermanshah in the west and Khuzestan in the southwest. The agency has given the government US $1 million in preparation of four refugee camps, each capable of accommodating up to 15,000 refugees, located along the border in southwestern Iran. "We are monitoring the situation and have beefed up our presence. We hope we are able to do whatever is needed, should a crisis occur," he explained. Over the weekend, the Iranian government received four plane-loads of relief supplies from the Russian aid agency, EMERCON. The 150 mt of relief supplies flown to Kermanshah included tents, stoves, water filters, blankets, dried food, generators, flour, soap, canned milk, salt and tools. The government subsequently turned over the Russian donation to the Iranian Red Crescent Society as part of its emergency relief supplies for Iraq refugees. At present, UNHCR has received a little over $25 million of the $60 million it needs for its initial contingency plan for one month. Initial planning figures seek to prepare for a possible crisis of some 600,000 refugees regionally, up to 250,000 of whom might seek refuge in Iran. "This is just a planning figure. It hasn't materialised yet, but we have tried to make ourselves ready," Nouri maintained, noting with the cooperation of the Iranian government, UNHCR hopes to accomplish just that. No new Iraqi refugees have arrived in Iraq's neighbouring countries since the first group of 14 arrived in Syria on Sunday. In addition to Iran and Syria, Iraq, a nation of 25 million, shares another 1,587 km of border with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey.