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Iraq-Jordan
Iraq to move 3,100 Iranian Kurds to safe area: UN
2005-05-31
GENEVA - Iraq has agreed to move 3,100 Iranian Kurd refugees, who have been stuck in harsh and dangerous conditions near Ramadi, to a safer area in the north, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed the "breakthrough", as Al Tash camp has been virtually cut off from aid since the US-led invasion in 2003 of Iraq due to insecurity, spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said.
Another 3,200 refugees who fled Al Tash camp last November after militants attacked its police station have already moved to the Sulaimaniya area in Iraq's northern Kurdish region.
Which the Turks will view with alarm in 4..3..2..
"We have just been informed that the Iraqi Prime Minister's office has approved a proposed plan to relocate Al Tash camp's remaining population -- some 3,100 people -- to a much safer location near Sulaimaniya in Southern Kurdistan northern Iraq," Pagonis told a news briefing.
Al Tash, set up more than 20 years ago, is 60 km (37 miles) from Falluja and 12 km (7.5 miles) from Ramadi, both Sunni cities in central Iraq where US-led forces have been battling an insurgency. UNCHR says most of the Iranians fled their homeland during Iran-Iraq war of 1980s, and some also fled during the Gulf War. Refugees have endured chronic insecurity and cuts in electricity, water supplies and medical care, UNHCR says. Its local staff have been only able to make sporadic visits.
"Hopefully they will be moved fairly soon now that the agreement has been made. We are keen to get going because they have been stuck a long time in a dangerous limbo," UNHCR spokesman Rupert Colville told Reuters.
Separately, 743 refugees, mainly Iranian Kurds who have been living in a "no man's land" camp between Jordan and Iraq for up to two years, moved on Sunday to Ruweished camp, some 60 km (37 miles) inside Jordan, according to UNHCR. Conditions will be "distinctly better" as the camp in no man's land was extremely difficult to reach and was not under any state's jurisdiction, it said. UNHCR was increasing its efforts to persuade states in the region or elsewhere to take in the 743 Iranians and 127 other refugees, mostly Palestinians, who were already at Ruweished.
Posted by:Steve

#1  yeah, I'm real concerned about what Turkey thinks
Posted by: Frank G   2005-05-31 22:25  

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