JEDDAH, 13 July 2003 — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, yesterday received United Nations Special Representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, amid reports that Iraqi refugees who have been living at a camp in the Kingdom since the 1991 Gulf War will start returning home within the coming weeks.
The crown prince received the UN envoy in Taif. No details were given on the topics discussed during the meeting but a UN statement said the visit comes within the context of De Mello’s consultations with Iraq’s neighbors “on current efforts to assist the Iraqi people in creating a stable, democratic and sovereign Iraq.”
The UN envoy has already met with officials in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, in addition to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. He is expected to visit Iran, Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait.
A UN official said the first batch of Iraqi refugees who have been living at Rafha camp not far from the Iraqi border would start returning home on July 21. Some 5,233 Iraqi refugees live in the camp since 1991 following the Gulf War that led to the expulsion of the Iraqi forces from Kuwait which they occupied in mid-1990.
“The first group consisting of 243 refugees will leave for Basra on July 21. They will return through Kuwait,” Mamoon Muhsen, external affairs officer of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) Gulf regional office, was quoted by AFP as saying.
He said all procedures regarding coordination between the Riyadh-based UNHCR regional office with the Saudi government and the American, British and Kuwaiti sides have been completed.
The group, comprising bachelors and families, were among 2,800 who expressed a desire to leave voluntarily for Iraq. The majority fled Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s forces crushed a revolt in southern Iraq in March 1991. Over 800 of them have been registered and are ready to return. Other refugees will leave the border camp at Rafha at later dates.
The spokesman said although UNHCR is facilitating the refugee it is not encouraging it “because of the lack of security and stability” in Iraq. The refugees will return by bus and will be accorded Saudi and Kuwaiti security escort each in its territory. UNHCR officials will accompany the convoy into Basra.
Over the years, 25,000 of the Iraqis have been resettled as refugees, mostly in Europe, the United States and Australia. About 3,300 returned to Iraq while the rest, including 110 Afghans, remained in the camp unable to find a host country.
