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Mart: It's called "social democracy". mart-remote wrote: > One wonders what the U.N plans to do and where the refugees will go > next, once Iraq is bombed into oblivion and the U.S moves on to war on > Iran??? Shame on the U.N. They should be stopping this war instead of > making "arrangements" for it!!! ----- Original Message ----- From: Marc > Azar To: CBC Web News Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 12:31 PMSubject: > CANESI: UN HELPS IRAN PLAN FOR FLOOD OF REFUGEES > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,668442,00.html > > UN HELPS IRAN PLAN FOR FLOOD OF REFUGEES > by Jonathan Steele in Tehran > The Guardian. 16th March > > The United Nations has started moving tens of thousands of tents and > blankets to western Iran in readiness for a huge wave of Iraqi refugees > who are expected to escape across the border if the US and Britain > launch military action to topple the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. > > The move, which is the first concrete sign that international and > Iranian officials are taking the threat of a US-led war against Iraq > seriously, is described as a "contingency plan" by Pierre Lavanchy, who > heads the Tehran office of the United Nations high commissioner for > refugees (UNHCR). > > "We've started to prepare for a possible influx. We are in discussions > with Iranian officials", he told the Guardian yesterday. "We are taking > stocks which were in place in south-eastern Iran for refugees from > Afghanistan and moving them across the country to be near the border > with Iraq." > > As well as tents and blankets, the supplies include kitchen utensils, > plastic sheeting, pots, and jerry cans for water. > > They will go to the main UNHCR depot at Ahwaz, and at an office in > Orumiyeh. > > Food and medicine is expected to be added after a meeting tomorrow of > all the Iran-based UN agencies, including the World Food Programme and > the World Health Organisation. > > "We are already moving enough for 40,000 people. It's better to have at > least a minimum in place," Mr Lavanchy said. > > Although Mr Lavanchy declined to give a figure for the total number of > refugees expected to flee across the border because of US air strikes > and ground operations, some diplomats believe it could reach 150,000, > even though Saddam Hussein is expected to close the frontiers, as he did > in previous conflicts. Tens of thousands of others would be displaced > inside Iraq, unable to bypass or bribe the Iraqi border guards. > > During the US bombing of Afghanistan, both Pakistan and Iran mounted > extra guards on their respective borders to keep refugees out. > > By contrast, in the case of a US attack on Iraq, Iran is expected to > open the door. > > "Foreign ministry officials have said that they will allow refugees from > Iraq to enter," Mr Lavanchy said. > > "The Iraqi lobby here is much stronger than the Afghan one." > > The policy difference also seems to stem from the size of the refugee > communities that are already in Iran. > > Iran felt it could not take any more Afghans after a registration drive > last spring discovered that 2.36 million Afghan refugees were already > inside the country. > > Only 203,000 Iraqis were recorded. > > The Iranian government is just about to launch a new programme, with the > UNHCR, to persuade Afghan refugees to return home now that the Taliban > have been defeated. > > The exodus from Iraq is expected to consist mainly of Kurds from > northern Iraq. > > Arab Shi'ites from the southern Iraqi marshlands, which provided some of > the main battlegrounds in the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, > were driven from their homes in the early 1990s by Saddam Hussein's > strategy of damming rivers and draining the marshes to destroy the > livelihoods of communities that he suspected of being hostile to him. > > The area is now almost empty. Around 100,000 of the marsh Arabs fled to > Iran, while others fled to Iraqi cities. > > Apart from creating a new refugee crisis, a war in Iraq is also likely > to put an abrupt end to a cautious refugee and prisoner-of-war return > programme which Teheran and Baghdad started just two months ago, almost > 14 years after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, which left some 500,000 > dead. > ============================================================ > > To subscribe, send a blank message to: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards® > > --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
