• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Iraqi Official Says IDPs, Refugees Returning Home

March 24, 2011

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi official says that internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees are returning to their homes in a sign that a government plan is working, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports.

Judge Asghar al-Musawi, deputy minister of migration and displacement, told RFI that nearly 89,500 families have returned to their homes since a ministry "return program" was launched in 2008. He said most of the returnees are IDPs but that many refugees have also returned from abroad.

Al-Musawi said the figures are based only on those returnees who have registered with the government but there are many others who have not officially reported their return. He said the ministry will soon carry out surveys to ascertain the total number of refugees who have come back to Iraq.

Al-Musawi said the highest number of returnees has come to Baghdad and the lowest number has settled in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city. He said such statistics show that security is still a major concern to possible returnees.

Al-Musawi said the cash grant received by each family upon its return will be increased from 1 million dinars ($849) to 3 million dinars (about $2,546), excluding other benefits the returnees are entitled to under the reintegration plan.

He said talks are under way with the Foreign Ministry to open migration and displacement offices in countries where there are large Iraqi refugee communities.

Al-Musawi admitted that although his ministry's 2011 budget has been increased by 100 billion dinars to 312 billion (some $268 million), it is insufficient to fulfill the ministry's plans for speeding up the reintegration of returnees and encouraging others to return.

But he added that he is optimistic to find other resources to offset the shortfall, including assistance from the international community, especially the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR.

Political analyst Ibrahim al-Sumaidai told RFI that he is very skeptical of the Iraqi Migration and Displacement Ministry's declared goal of ending the country's problem with IDPs and refugees by the end of this year.

Al-Sumaidai said that neither the ministry, with its limited resources, nor the government as a whole can resolve this problem as long as there are insurgent groups creating insecurity and discouraging plans by refugees or IDPs to return to their homes.

The UNHCR, Refugees International, and the Brookings Institution agree on a base figure of some 1.5 million IDPs in Iraq, 500,000 of whom live in poverty.

Of the returnees registered with the International Organization for Migration, 86 percent are IDPs but overall numbers of returnees are said to be low.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/iraq_official_idp_ refugees_returning_home/2348930.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.