Middle East News
US accepting 59 refugees from Iraq, plans for 7,000
May 30, 2007, 23:15 GMT
Washington - The United States plans to receive its first 59 refugees from the Iraq conflict in the coming weeks, the first step to accepting up to 7,000 refugees, officials said Wednesday.
The Department of Homeland Security said it would accept the 'most vulnerable Iraqi refugees - such as those whose lives may be in jeopardy because they worked for coalition forces.'
The department said it had completed screening of more than 300 cases involving more than 700 Iraqis, and said the US 'must be mindful of the security risks associated with admitting refugees from war-torn countries - especially countries infiltrated by large numbers of terrorists.'
According to the United Nations refugee agency, more than 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the war, violence and chaos in their country since the US-led war began in March 2003. Up to 1.5 million Iraqis fled to neighbouring Syria, 750,000 to Jordan, another neighbour, and 80,000 to Egypt.
Another 2 million people are internally displaced in Iraq from the violence, the UN says.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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pbMay 31st, 2007 - 02:55:30
59 down, and 4 million to go. What a plan!
Meanwhile, many of the Iraqis who risked their own safety by directly assisting the U.S., and are resident in the Green Zone, are being evicted.
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