UN convoy of Iraqi refugees delayed by Basra unrest

Recent unrest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra has forced the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to interrupt in mid-journey its second repatriation of refugees from Saudi Arabia since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a spokesman for the agency said today.

Some 250 refugees had already left Rafha camp on Sunday when security restrictions in Basra, following weekend clashes between angry crowds and British forces, delayed its further progress, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski told a briefing in Geneva.

The refugees are now waiting in an empty pilgrim facility at Ar Raq'i, near Saudi Arabia's border with Kuwait, and should resume their journey on 16 August, when the situation in Basra is expected to have improved, Mr. Janowski added.

The first repatriation convoy of some 240 Iraqi refugees arrived in Basra in late July. Despite this movement from Rafha, UNHCR said it was not promoting returns to Iraq, and would not do so until conditions in the country become conducive to larger scale repatriation.

The agency only expects limited numbers of refugees to return this year, all of them people clamouring to go home despite the difficult conditions. UNHCR recognizes that refugees can exercise their right to return, and is closely coordinating the repatriation movements with the United States-run Coalition Provisional Authority to ensure they take place in a gradual and orderly manner, in view of Iraq's fragile absorption capacity.