GENEVA - Many areas of Iraq are too dangerous for Iraqi refugees to return to, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday, contrary to Iraqi government statements that the security situation has improved enough for exiles to come home safely.
The Iraqi Red Crescent said in a report this week that more than 25,000 Iraqi refugees returned, mostly from Syria, between Sept. 15 and Nov. 30.The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, however, believes that "many areas are still considered unsafe and conditions are not conducive for return in safety and dignity," agency spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva.
He said the U.N. agency was "not promoting or facilitating in any way returns to Iraq," but added that refugees — most of whom have fled to Syria and Jordan — have a right to go back to their country if they want to.
The U.S. military has warned that a massive return of refugees could rekindle sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites and that some returnees have found their Baghdad homes occupied by members of the other Muslim sect.
Lack of basic facilities such as drinking water, food and shelter, as well as limited health services and employment opportunities in parts of Iraq, are also a concern, Spindler said.
The United Nations and the Iraqi government set up an $11 million fund this week to assist those returning home.
The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been eager to point to recent military gains against al-Qaida and other militants as proof that the security situation in Iraq is improving.
Government television has been publicizing the return of the refugees, airing daily interviews with Iraqis getting off buses from Syria.
U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort told The Associated Press earlier this week that there are still 2.2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and 2.4 million internally displaced inside Iraq.
The agency's staff in Syria, which hosts 1.4 million Iraqis, estimate that 128,000 refugees returned to Iraq between August and the end of November. But 97,000 new refugees arrived in Syria in the same period, the agency said, resulting in a net return of only a few hundred a day.
"We're definitely not seeing thousands a day return, as we've heard," van Genderen Stort said.
According to the refugee agency, the reasons why some Iraqis are returning home from Syria include the stricter visa controls imposed by Damascus, hardship and lack of work opportunities, and Iraqi government offers of financial assistance to returnees.
The agency said Iraqi women in Syria are facing increasing problems, with some resorting to prostitution to survive, and called for more money from the international community to aid the refugees.
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