RIYADH, 6 June 2003 — Several hundred Iraqis who have been stuck in a Saudi refugee camp since the 1991 Gulf war have demanded to go home immediately, an official for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said yesterday.
“No date has been set for the repatriation. We are still coordinating with the Saudi authorities about this matter,” Mamoon Muhsen, external affairs officer of the UNHCR’s Gulf regional office, told AFP.
The 467 who demanded to leave are among some 5,233 Iraqi refugees living at Rafha camp, some 10 kilometers from the Iraqi borders. A majority of them fled Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s forces crushed a Shiite revolt in southern Iraq in March 1991.
“We (the UNHCR) are not encouraging the refugees to return ... because of the lack of security and stability,” in Iraq, Muhsen said.
“But we facilitate the repatriation of those who want to leave on their own responsibility,” he added.
A number of these refugees will return to Iraq through Kuwait, while the rest will cross the border from Saudi Arabia. A majority of the refugees however demanded in April “fair compensation and an appropriate assistance,” to be able to begin a new life.
The Saudi government used to give SR10,000 as a grant to each individual who leaves, and the UNHCR expected this to continue. But refugees say the sum is too small.
The camp, 20 kilometres north of the town of Rafha, was initially set up for more than 33,000 Iraqis who fled the crushing of the rebellion.
Over the years, 25,000 have been resettled as refugees, mostly in Europe, the United States and Australia. About 3,300 of the refugees returned to Iraq while the rest, including 110 Afghans, remained in the camp unable to find a host country.
About one-third of the camp’s population are unmarried men, most in their late 30s and early 40s.
