Refugee returns to south continue

Another 500 Iraqis were assisted in returning from Iran on Monday as part of a continuous flow of returnees from the Islamic Republic this year. "With this group of returnees from Iran, the total number of Iraqi returnees either from Rafah camp in Saudi Arabia or from Iran so far in 2004 is around 5,900 people, of which the majority are from Iran," Josef Pfattner, aid worker from Intersos, an Italian NGO funded by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told IRIN in Basra. "This is of course in addition to thousands of spontaneous (unassisted) returnees who come on their own," he added. According to UNHCR, an estimated 120,000 people have returned to southern Iraq spontaneously - mainly from Iran. Since last July the refugee agency has helped the repatriation of some 10,000 Iraqis from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Earlier, Iran hosted the largest number of Iraqi refugees in the world at around 202,000, most of whom fled during the late 1970s and 1980s, escaping war and persecution, with many also arriving following the 1991 Gulf war. While UNHCR is not promoting returns, officials at the agency say they would rather facilitate returns then allow refugees, desperate to return, to cross dangerously mined areas themselves. The returnees arrive home fairly late in the day due to bureaucratic procedures at the borders and often look exhausted from the 14-hour-drive from the nearest border city in Iran, which is 40 km away from Basra. Abbas al-Saghair, who had been in Iran since 1993 and had married an Iranian woman, said that he would have preferred to stay in Iran but he was forced to come back like the rest of his family for economic reasons. "I can't stay away from the rest of my big family especially now that the situation in Iran is not that stable either, there is not enough work unless you have a special skill or are well-educated," he told IRIN. Soad Haider, a woman from the neighbouring Iraqi district of Amara in Missan governorate, who left for Iran with her husband and two children in 1991, said they too had no regular income in Iran. "I was so worried to come back home in this unstable security situation, but we had no other alternative. My husband came a few weeks ago on his own to check on the situation and he told me we would be safe," she told IRIN. "Most of the returnees endure very difficult social, economic and health conditions," Dr Ali al-Jabri, with Intersos told IRIN. "Many of them suffer from those illnesses linked to stress and hard economic conditions like headaches, high blood pressure, diabetes, and many of their children suffer from anaemia and tonsillitis," he added. The Intersos programme includes the distribution of non-food items and making links between vulnerable returnees, such as the disabled and elderly, with national and international NGOs in the south, as well as local authorities such as the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. "We were first helping the most vulnerable returnees till we found many Iraqis in the south who were even more vulnerable, so we expanded the programme to help vulnerable Iraqis in general," Pfattner explained. On Friday, UNHCR issued a statement saying that more than 30,000 extremely vulnerable returnees in the Thi-Qar governorate of Basra had received assistance in the form of blankets, plastic sheeting, cooking stoves and kitchen sets. The refugee agency also expressed concern over the recent escalation in violence inside Iraq with regard to returns. "The violence in Falluja this week once again demonstrates the overall volatility of the situation, as well as the dangers faced by people inside the country, nationals and foreigners alike," said UNHCR spokesman, Ron Redmond at a press briefing in Geneva. On Monday, US troops launched an offensive against Iraqi insurgents protesting in the Sunni town of Falluja, some 50 km west of Baghdad. Four Americans were killed and their bodies mutilated by a mob in the town on 25 March. At least nine coalition soldiers and 46 Iraqis have been killed in confrontations related to the protests, while continuing tension in Sadr City, a district of Baghdad, saw eight US troops and a reported 22 Iraqis killed in fighting on Sunday, the international media reported.