BASRA, 19 August 2003 — A third group of almost 300 Iraqi refugees who have been living at a camp in Saudi Arabia for the last 12 years will arrive back in Iraq tomorrow, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
“Some 298 Iraqi refugees from Rafha Camp in Saudi Arabia will arrive at the Safwan border crossing (in Kuwait) at 7:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) on Aug. 20,” UNHCR official Samih Bulbul said yesterday.
Refugees in the third group will return from there to the provinces of Babylon, Karbala, Najaf and Qadissiya, Bulbul said.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April, more than 2,800 out of 5,233 refugees in the Rafha Camp have requested voluntary repatriation.
