SYRIA/IRAQ: Iraqi refugees start to return home

Record ID: 279475

  • Title: SYRIA/IRAQ: Iraqi refugees start to return home
  • Date: 28th November 2007
  • Summary: FAMILY LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAL1QFD2QNT8RULMWI8P6U2XUH
  • Story Text: Iraqis who moved abroad to escape the violence in Iraq have begun to return after a noticeable improvement in the security situation.
    : Hundreds of Iraqi refugees, encouraged by a lull in the violence, are returning to their homes after living in exile. The Iraqi government has organised free travel for Iraqi refugees living in Syria to encourage them to return home. The first trip moved about 800 people and it will be repeated each week. The buses leave from the Sayydeh Zeinab bus station, in a Damascus suburb where most Iraqis live in Syria. Although there are still daily attacks in Baghdad and other cities, Iraqis are encouraged by the downturn in violence. Refugee Faeq Abdul Abbas, told Reuters: "According to what we hear in the news the situation became better than before so if the security percentage was 70 percent it would be good." Another refugee, Zeinah Khalaf, said: "They killed my brothers and my father and my parents fled their home but despite all that I want to go back home." Diplomatic sources in the Iraqi embassy in Damascus say about 70,000 Iraqi families have gone back to Iraq from the neighbouring countries during the last two months. Syria imposed new visa restrictions on Iraqis in October 2007 which has made it difficult for exiles to renew their visas and stay in Syria Displacement and Migration Minister Abdul Samad Sultan recently told Reuters that 1,600 people were returning to Iraq every day. As many as 2 million Iraqis have taken refuge in other nations, mainly in Syria and Jordan. He said the ministry was coordinating with the leaders of a joint U.S.-Iraqi security operation in Baghdad to help the refugees regain control of their homes. International aid agencies say the number of people being displaced in Iraq still exceeds the number of returnees. But the Iraqi government has been keen to highlight the number of families coming back to show that the nine-month-old crackdown in Baghdad is working. Relatives waited for hours for the return of their families at a bus stop in Baghdad. Umm Wehad, an Iraqi refugee who lived for six months in Syria said she had retruned because of the improved securuity situation. "We have been in Syria for six months, living in exile made us feel tired. We are here now. God willing, the situation has improved and we decided to come so that we will be comfortable," she said. The U.S. military says the number of attacks has fallen 55 percent since the deployment of an extra 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq was completed in mid-June. That brings attacks to their lowest level since January 2006, a month before the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra unleashed waves of reprisal killings. "Thank God, the situation is good, it is very good. The security situation is better than before. When we left before six months ago, the situation was so bad but now all Iraqis have to return, they return back to their country," said Umm Karim who lived in Syria for six months, adding, "We have to return from exile, we have to return." Mazen, who lived in Syria for two years said that his family has suffered a lot. "We had to sell our belongings and move the others. Things will be fine as Iraq is safe. Thank God," he said. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says many Iraqi refugees are waiting to make sure that the downturn in violence is not simply a lull but a "long-term phenomenon". Sultan said this week the government was offering financial help to returning families. About 4,000 families have each received 1 million dinars (about 800 U.S. dollars), while 4,650 more are still waiting for the payments to be processed, he said. Sultan said the government would set up a centre that will offer poor returning families loans to set up small businesses. np/jrc
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