IRAQ: NEED FOR MORE FOREIGN TROOPS FOR SECURITY AS IRAQI IMMIGRATION MINISTER URGED IRAQI ABROAD NOT TO RETURN HOME YET
Record ID:
648569
IRAQ: NEED FOR MORE FOREIGN TROOPS FOR SECURITY AS IRAQI IMMIGRATION MINISTER URGED IRAQI ABROAD NOT TO RETURN HOME YET
- Title: IRAQ: NEED FOR MORE FOREIGN TROOPS FOR SECURITY AS IRAQI IMMIGRATION MINISTER URGED IRAQI ABROAD NOT TO RETURN HOME YET
- Date: 4th August 2004
- Summary: (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 4, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF IRAQI LAWYERS WITH IRAQI INTERIM PRESIDENT GHAZI AL-YAWAR 0.08 2. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) YAWAR, SAYING: "Actually, I am personally very bewildered, why do we keep bringing troops from here and there at a time we have human resources in Iraq that we should be proud of them? We have men and women on an international level of efficiency and we should start preparing our Iraqi security forces and stop calling for help from other countries. We have people who are supposed to be responsible for security in the country." 0.39 3. WIDE OF IRAQI LAWYERS 0.43 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) YAWAR, SAYING: "It is high time that we apply the National Security Law in a way that respects Iraqi people's dignity and the security of the people of Iraq who respect law." 0.53 5. PAN OF YAWAR WITH LAWYERS 1.00 6. WIDE OF MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES, PASCAL ESHO WARDA PRESS CONFERENCE 1.10 7. WIDE OF JOURNALISTS ATTENDING CONFERENCE 1.15 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES PASCAL ESHO WARDA, SAYING: "Many, many who would like to come back very early but because of our situation, because of our non-security situation, we call on them to have this idea but not just now, but not try now, to wait a little bit, some months, maybe one year, more than two years. I would like to say we were able to prepare something for them, able to do something different." 1.41 9. SCU CAMERAMAN 1.46 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINISTER WARDA, SAYING: "For those who are brainy, we actually say come because we need you in the construction of our country. But also if they come we must have something prepared for them because they are the real reconstructors of the country and we with the IOM, the International Organisation for Migration, we are in the same movement and we are agreed to prepare this lists and they are now preparing the lists." 2.18 11. WIDE OF CONFERENCE 2.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVADBTH6VDFOXP3JR1M2Q9HDBLZD
- Story Text: Iraq's interim president said there is no need for
more foreign troops while the immigration minister urged
Iraqis abroad not to return yet.
Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawar said on
Wednesday (August 4) his country did not need troops from
other countries to maintain security and stability.
Speaking during a meeting with a group of Iraqi
lawyers, Yawar said that Iraqis were capable of preserving
security.
"Actually, I am personally very bewildered why do we
keep bringing troops from here and there at a time we have
human resources in Iraq that we should be proud of them. We
have men and women on an international level of efficiency
and we should start preparing our Iraqi security forces and
stop calling for help from other countries. We have people
who are supposed to be responsible for security in the
country," he said.
Last week Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
called on Arab and Muslim nations to join a proposed force
of Islamic troops in Iraq that the United States said could
provide protection to the United Nations.
Allawi led a large delegation in a regional tour to
some Arab countries aimed at normalizing relations with
Iraq.
A deployment by Muslim nations would be a public relations coup
for
the United States, which has seen the
U.S.-led coalition in Iraq reduced by the withdrawal of the
Philippines, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and
Honduras.
Yawar also said it was high time to put into effect the
national security law adopted by the government last month.
"It is high time that we apply the National Security
Law in a way that respects Iraqi people's dignity and the
security of the people of Iraq who respect law," Yawar
said.
Meanwhile, Iraq's new Immigration And Refugees Minister
urged Iraqis abroad not to return home because of the
fragile security conditions.
"Many, many who would like to come back very early but
because of our situation, because of our non-security
situation, we call on themto wait a little bit, some
months, maybe one year, no more than two years," Minister
Pascal Warda told a news conference on Wednesday (August 4).
However, Warda appealed to experts and Iraq's brains to
return home to help in reconstructing the country. Warda
said she had written letters to her counterparts in the
European Union and other countries "urging them not to
exert pressure on refugees or expel them in current
circumstances."
The ministry estimates that nearly four million Iraqis
live abroad and at least one million of them, who still
lack documents of residence in host countries, are willing
to return.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has earmarked $150
million U.S. dollars for the rehabilitation of those opting
to return home but the ministry says the money is
insufficient.
About 900,000 of Iraqis abroad have no proper papers and
are unqualified for health, education and other public
amenities. The ministry says most of them live in squalid
conditions and are in dire need of help.
At least 183,000 of those living in Europe and other
advanced countries lack permanent residence papers and are
at risk of being thrown out. Hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis have landed in their host countries illegally in
their search for asylum. Thousands are reported to have
perished in high seas and snow-capped mountains in their
journey for freedom and security.
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