Conflicting reports on Iraqi return figures

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

GENEVA, December 7 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency said Friday that it is proving difficult to determine exactly how many Iraqi refugees are returning back home. Spokesperson William Spindler told journalists that between August and the end of last month, UNHCR staff in Syria had received reports from the Iraqi border authorities that 97,000 Iraqis had entered Syria from Iraq, while at the same time 128,000 left Syria for Iraq through the main Al Waleed border point.

This includes all categories of Iraqis, including bus and taxi drivers, and not just refugees who returned for good. UNHCR does not have a 24-hour presence at the border and relies on various sources to estimate numbers.

An estimated 25,000-28,000 Iraqis returned home between mid-September and the end of November, with the majority – some 20,000 – returning to Baghdad, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society.

"UNHCR staff have spoken to a wide range of refugees before they left Syria, and some said they were returning because they believed that security had improved, while others said they had run out of resources and feared the winter period when the cost of living jumps. Others are leaving because they have outstayed their visas," Spindler said.

Some also wanted to arrive before the end of the year to enable their children to enrol in school, the spokesperson said, while adding that there was "a real concern among the returnees about longer-term security with many saying they are only returning to areas where they feel secure because of the local security arrangements in place."

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/3895905fdfe54bee7ae49cc8e974fb8c.htm

[Tempest]

1. Hell, they can't even get the military and police officials to return to Iraq

Numerous Iraqi military and law-enforcement officials brought to the U.S. as part of special intelligence and training programs have run away and are seeking asylum in this country or disappeared altogether, The Washington Times has learned.

Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say nearly a dozen Iraqis fled military training facilities in the U.S., including a brigadier general who went to Canada with his family earlier this year.

Army officials yesterday confirmed that five Iraqi military personnel whom the Army had been training disappeared between 2005 and 2007. They did not know how many other Iraqis sponsored by the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy may have done the same.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/NATION/112060084/1001

[rodeodance]

2. just cause people leave one country that does not mean they return to Iraq