GENEVA, 12 April 2003 — The UN refugee agency warned yesterday that the collapse of law and order in Iraq could still lead to a refugee exodus from the country, as it revealed about 30,000 people have already fled the cities of Baghdad and Nassiriyah. The group of refugees arrived at the border town of Badrah in neighboring western Iran after leaving their homes earlier this week, a spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
UNHCR had not reported any major refugee movements out of Iraq since the US-led invasion began. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said. “The current chaotic situation can still lead to displacement if order is not restored and maintained, and we remain particularly concerned about continued movements,” he told a news briefing. “They say they want to remain there until they see what happens,” Redmond said.
Iranian authorities had sent food and medicine to Badrah, which normally has population of 6,000 people. “More aid is being requested,” Redmond added. Iranian press reports have put the number of refugees at 100,000. Small groups have been spotted on the Iraqi side of the border, but no new arrivals have been registered since the war began.
The Iranian refugee organization BAFIA, with help from the UNHCR, has constructed 10 camps to house refugees. Four of the camps are ready to cope with at least 60,000 refugees. In the event of a mass refugee exodus from Iraq, extra tents could quickly be arranged. UNHCR staff at the Iran-Iraq border were not able to confirm reports from Iran that up to 100,000 Iraqis were gathering nearby, according to Redmond.
In the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is caring for 1,500 refugees. They have come mainly from Basra, IOM said yesterday.
Aid agencies yesterday reiterated appeals for US and British forces in Iraq to get to grips with law and order following massive looting and chaos with the fall of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s regime.
They were still holding back with a massive aid operation because of the lack of security for aid workers and for supplies. “The swiftest possible return of international employees could also help to avoid population displacements,” Christiane Berthiaume, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program (WFP) said.
UN agencies, which started stocking emergency supplies and building up staff in neighboring countries before military action began in Iraq, said they were ready to make a massive return to the country when security improves.
A UN security assessment was due to be conducted in northern Iraq today, but a similar probe in the south to decide if aid convoys could roll in freely was not expected until Monday or Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “We’re pretty optimistic for the situation in northern Iraq, we’re not so optimistic for the whole situation in southern Iraq,” Damien Personnaz of UNICEF said.
Many people appeared to be returning to their homes in northern Iraq as fighting subsided there, aid workers said. The UN estimated that there were 135,000 displaced Iraqis there, compared to about 280,000 last week.
In the south, UNICEF said water shortages were having an “alarming” impact on children in two southern provinces, with the number of diarrhea cases among under five year-olds increasing sharply in the past five days. There were 30 cases in the area for the whole of April last year, but 50 cases within the past five days, Personnaz said.
