IRAQ: Focus on returnees from Iran

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BAGHDAD, 29 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - After weeks of standing in line every day at the immigration office in Baghdad, Zainab Ahmed, an Iraqi who lived in Iran for the last 18 years, finally got the required official’s signature this week to start getting her identity documents back.

Like thousands of other Iraqis, Ahmed, 65, and her family of seven were forced to leave the country by former president Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. She moved back to Iraq from neighbouring Iran months ago, but lives with her son-in-law as her house is occupied by another family told to move there by Saddam.

“This is my homeland, all of my relatives are here,” Ahmed told IRIN when asked why she moved back. “But I have no house, no furniture, nothing but some blankets to sleep in.”

Families like Ahmed’s have been returning since the fall of the regime, but now, up to 1,000 people per day are making the trek from Iran, Sorya Isho Warda, Iraq‘s Minister for Displacement and Migration told IRIN.

Statistics from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also indicate a huge rise in returnees, many assisted by UNHCR.

Up to 1 million people may have come back so far, Ahmed said. Official statistics are far lower and put the number at something over 116,000, according to Warda. The discrepancy is because many have returned without official assistance and have not been registered.

When they saw the images on TV of US troops entering Iraq, families wanted to return home immediately, Ahmed said. “It seemed like there was a new life in Iraq,” she added. “In Iran, I have no nationality, so I have no rights.”

The Iranian government has also been encouraging Iraqis to return home, one of Ahmed’s daughters Fatma Latif, 49, told IRIN. “The word continues to spread in Iran that we can get our old documents back, here [in Baghdad],” Latif said. “Thousands of people have gone to the ministry here to see what they can do for us. Now, maybe we can get something.”

Ahmed spreads documents out on the floor, the passport of her husband, issued in Iraq; his military service card from Iraq; her identification card and several children’s identification cards. Now the children are adults, so they need new documents, but she is unsure where to apply, Ahmed said.

MORE HOUSING NEEDED

The huge number of people flowing back to the country has caused a strain on government infrastructure, Warda said. Many of the returnee Iraqis have also registered for food ration cards, which entitles them to a basket of food expected to feed four people for a month. Those cards are also being used to create Iraq’s new voter registration database.

At least 500 of the Iraqi families from Iran have ended up at Saad camp near the Iran/Iraq border northeast of Baghdad. They live in tents and can hardly make ends meet, according to officials. The ministry distributed food parcels to the camp recently. “We are saying please, we don’t want to add to the number of victims. We would like to accept them after preparation,” the Minister of Displacement and Migration said.

“Like every country, Iran wants them to leave, and people are eager to return home. But housing is the biggest problem,” she said. “Where can we put all of these people?”

The ministry has asked exiles who want to return from other countries to be patient until officials can figure out how to deal with their needs, Warda said. Continued violence in Iraq is also an issue, she added.

Insurgents continue to fight with US-led troops in many cities of Iraq. Daily mortar attacks and car bombs lend an edgy quality to life in the country, making it hard for newcomers to settle in.

RETURNEES AND ELECTIONS

At the same time, rumours continue that politicians, including Sheikh Ali Sistani, a leading Shi'ite Muslim cleric, want exiled Iraqis who support them to return home before the parliamentary election scheduled for 30 January. Messages on TV from politicians tell people to return, Ahmed said. At the Ministry of Displacement and Migration, numerous people said they heard Sistani call for them to return to Iraq, said Thaer Sahood, an official there.

But a Sistani spokesman told IRIN the religious leader is taking a neutral stance. Sistani will not put out information trying to influence voters and neither will his followers in Najaf, said the spokesman from Imam Hussein Sadr’s office, a Sistani stronghold in Baghdad.

“I’m hearing this for the first time when you tell me. The majahea [a faction of Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq] will not tell voters to support any candidate. All we ask are for good conditions for people to be able to vote,” the spokesman said.

Out-of-country voting will be held in 14 different nations for the estimated 3 million Iraqi diaspora, said Tihana Bartulac, an elections specialist working on the project. “People in Europe also want to come back, but there is also the issue of children, of schools, of educational standards,” Warda said.

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