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INTERVIEW-Iraq neighbours bear brunt of refugee influx

13 Apr 2007 08:38:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

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Iraqi refugees shout slogans against the Iraqi government while waiting for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees at al-Syydeh Zeinab near Damascus, Feb. 8, 2007.
REUTERS /Khaled al-Hariri

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• Iraq in turmoil

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By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

BEIRUT, April 13 (Reuters) - A growing exodus of Iraqis fleeing bloodshed has imposed severe strains on Syria, Jordan and other nearby countries, which need more help to cope with the burden, a senior United Nations official said.

Syria alone has taken in an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis escaping the chaos that has engulfed their homeland since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Up to 800,000 more are in Jordan.

Recipient countries have shown "understanding and generosity" mixed with concern, Stephane Jaquemet, UNHCR's regional representative, told Reuters in an interview ahead of a UNHCR conference next week to raise awareness of the issue.

"There is a fear that the number is growing and that the balance between the local population and the refugee community is now quite shaky," he said, citing Jordan, where Iraqis make up an estimated 20 percent of the overall population.

The Geneva conference will focus on the humanitarian needs of more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled abroad and about 1.9 million displaced within Iraq, many of them in the past year.

"The level of violence remains very high, so all the conditions are there for people to seek safety," Jaquemet said.

Awareness should translate into support for host countries of modest means whose health, education and other services are sorely stretched by the growing influx of Iraqis, he added.

Such assistance need not be targeted directly at the refugees, but at improving living conditions for the general population to "create a climate of trust and support".

Sharing the burden with host countries before conditions get too dire might prevent a further upheaval in which desperate Iraqi refugees flood illegally into Europe or elsewhere.

Around 300,000 Iraqis returned from exile after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the UNHCR estimates, but that trend proved shortlived. Sectarian violence, particularly since the bombing of a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Samarra in February 2006, has fuelled an outflow that shows no sign of waning.

Syria's borders are the easiest for Iraqis to cross, especially since Jordan began applying frontier controls more strictly in recent months. Other countries have also taken in significant numbers. More than 100,000 Iraqis are in Egypt, 40-50,000 in Lebanon and 54,000 in Iran, the UNHCR estimates.

Resettlement is an option only for a small number of the refugees. The U.N. agency expects to find new countries for just 20,000 this year, roughly 1 percent of the total.

Jaquemet said the April 17-18 conference bringing together government officials and aid workers from Europe, the United States, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries would also relay a message that humanitarian agencies could only do so much.

"The core of the problem is somewhere else," he said, adding that it was up to political actors to improve security in Iraq. "That will be the only way for people to go back."

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Last updated:Fri Apr 13 11:05:42 2007