UN funds Iraqis returning home
04/12/2007 20:36  - (SA)  

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Baghdad - The United Nations has established an US$11.4m assistance programme for 5 000 vulnerable families returning to their homes in Iraq in response to declining violence, the chief UN envoy to Iraq said on Tuesday.

Citing figures from the Iraqi government, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said up to 40 000 refugees had returned from abroad in recent months and 10 000 internally displaced Iraqis have returned to their homes. He said the money for the most vulnerable refugees would be in addition to any Iraqi government aid.

The Iraqi government has encouraged refugees to return from Syria but the country's migration minister, Abdul-Samad Rahman, said priority would be given to Iraqis in "neighbouring countries which are not able to provide proper services to those families".

"As for other countries, we are with the UN in asking the families to wait until the situation is totally stable in Iraq," Rahman said in a joint news conference with the UN envoy.

- AP

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