Baghdad - The Iraqi embassy in Cairo is to start
repatriating free of charge Iraqi refugees on Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki's private jet, according to the Iraqi pro-government
newspaper al-Sabah.
'Al-Maliki gave the green light to such flights after the Embassy
reported to him that the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) has for months stopped financially supporting flights from
Egypt to Iraq leaving dozens of Iraqi families stranded,' al-Sabah
quoted Iraqi councilor in Cairo Nizar Mohammed as saying.
The councilor said the first flight will include 60 families
totalling 250 passengers, and that there will be a weekly flight to
help airlift the growing number of people wanting to return to Iraq.
The Iraqi Embassy in Cairo receives 80 applications daily from
Iraqis who mostly are either listed as refugees by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or are Iraqis studying in Egypt.
The Embassy however is giving priority to families over individuals,
the Iraqi Councilor said.
Although the largest concentrations of Iraqi refugees are in Syria
and Jordan, up to 150,000 Iraqis have settled in Egypt. Wary of the
massive influx experienced in Syria and Jordan, the Egyptian
authorities have restricted entrance to new Iraqis and reportedly
have not granted those Iraqis who have made it to Egypt any official
status or access to social services.
Over two and a half million Iraqi refugees have fled their country
since the US-led invasion that overthrew the regime of Saddam Hussein
in 2003.
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