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| Europe |
| Germany wants to facilitate repatriation of thousands of Iraqis |
| 2018-04-23 |
| [DW] The German development minister, Gerd Muller, says Germany and Iraq will step up cooperation on the reintegration of Iraqi refugees. He said up to 10,000 Iraqis would be helped to return home. German Development Minister Gerd Muller said on Sunday that Berlin and Baghdad had agreed to work together more closely on helping failed Iraqi asylum-seekers in Germany to return to their native country. "The aim is to support up to 10,000 Iraqis from Germany in re-establishing themselves and building something new," Muller said, following talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad. Muller said Iraqis should have the chance to return to their home country of their own free will and not as "losers." He added that education and employment opportunities would be created in cooperation with Iraqi authorities and companies. During his visit, Muller opened an advice center for returning refugees in the city of Irbil in the Kurdish-administered northern region of Iraq. Another is planned for Baghdad. A meeting between Muller and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was canceled at short notice because of scheduling problems. Large donor Ahead of his departure for Iraq on Saturday, Muller stressed the need to rebuild infrastructure in the country, particularly schools and education facilities, "so that terrorism doesn't regain a foothold." The German Development Ministry says some 12,000 of the 240,000 Iraqis currently living in Germany are failed asylum-seekers. Germany is the second-biggest giver of aid to Iraq, having pledged around €1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) in financial assistance since 2014, the ministry says. It has also provided military aid in the form of equipment and training for Iraqi security forces and their allies. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #8 There will be no good ending to this. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2018-04-23 13:48 |
| #7 Eintausendundeine (at least!) Arrived at her Barmecide feast: "I'll bet you'd like Polen," Sez Merkel. "Wir wollen Resettle you all in the East!" |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2018-04-23 11:53 |
| #6 Ten thousand down, 990,000 to go. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2018-04-23 11:08 |
| #5 That is the problem with wartime refuges, folks get the impression that is is only for the duration but the refugees get a taste of life in the west (especially when welfare pays for everything like in Germany) and they don't want to go back. Good luck Germany. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2018-04-23 10:27 |
| #4 Fritz will learn that it is not very easy to load the toothpaste back into the tube. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2018-04-23 10:14 |
| #3 "You can get on a plane or you can get in the boxcar. Based on history I know which I'd choose" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2018-04-23 08:34 |
| #2 Well, one could say "Gee, maybe if you hadn't let them in in the first place?" But you'd be saying that to a country that apparently hasn't learned much from "Gee, if you hadn't started a war you could not win, twice, you might not have ended up with your country totally crushed and divided in half for decades." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-04-23 07:52 |
| #1 Why am I skeptical? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-04-23 05:35 |