RIYADH, 12 March 2003 — The regional office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is holding talks with the government and humanitarian agencies in the Kingdom over a possible influx of an estimated 600,000 Iraqi refugees in the event of a war.
“Our relief operation needs some $60 million, but UNHCR has so far raised only $16 million — mostly from Western governments,” Mamoon Muhsen, external affairs officer of UNHCR, told Arab News last night.
UNHCR is also holding talks with the Kuwaiti government over the issue.
Asked if he was hopeful of covering the shortfall from the Gulf states, he said that not only the GCC states but all other countries and non-governmental organizations had been asked to mobilize their resources.
He said that hundreds of million dollars would be needed should the war break out. To what extent the UN relief agency succeeds in its mission remains to be seen. Muhsen quoted a UNHCR’s spokesman in Geneva as saying that the agency is urging governments to temporarily halt the forced return of rejected asylum seekers because of the threat of possible war. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have said they will not allow Iraqi refugees in, although they were prepared to help them out inside Iraq.
“UNHCR has appealed to all countries to keep their borders open for refugees,” Muhsen said, adding that there are still 5,200 refugees at the Rafha camp in the northern part of the Kingdom. More than 51,000 Iraqis claimed asylum worldwide last year, forming the largest single group of asylum seekers the world over. They were followed by 33,000 Yugoslavs.
Britain with a tally of 39,000 received the largest number of asylum requests from Iraqis last year.
