Mar 28, 2007

GENEVA - Emergency camps to host Iraqis fleeing their country could be built if their numbers increase beyond the point where neighboring nations can cope, the U.N. refugee agency said Monday.

Already about two million Iraqis are living under difficult conditions in Syria, Jordan and other countries in the region, where they are placing a heavy burden on their hosts, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' director for the Middle East and North Africa said.

"If the situation continues to deteriorate inside Iraq, and if new and major waves of Iraqis start leaving, we might face a situation whereby borders all around Iraq are closed," Radhouane Nouicer told reporters after returning from a visit to the region.

To avoid the closing of borders, UNHCR would set up camps in Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, effectively separating the refugees from the local population and economy, he said.

Nouicer did not say how much of an increase in the number of refugees would prompt construction of the camps. Thousands are leaving Iraq daily.

"The countries neighboring Iraq would prefer that we establish what they call 'safety zones' inside Iraq," he said. "We do not see any area inside Iraq which is completely safe, so we prefer to drop that option."

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said he did not know how detailed the discussions were about establishing safety zones, but that "some of the government officials met by UNHCR have raised this possibility."

According to the agency, Syria has taken in some 1.2 million Iraqis, and Jordan is hosting between 500,00 and 750,000. Egypt has 120,000 refugees, and another 200,000 Iraqis have found shelter in the countries of the Persian Gulf. Even Lebanon, which had its own refugee crisis during the conflict with
Israel last summer, is home to at least 20,000 Iraqi refugees.

The exodus has been described by UNHCR as the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948.

Nouicer warned that Syria and Jordan are bearing most of the burden and urged the international community to do more to respond to the refugee crisis. UNHCR is organizing a conference in Geneva on April 17-18 to highlight the plight of Iraq's refugees and solicit assistance from the rest of the world.

"I don't want to imagine the scenario whereby Syria and Jordan would close their borders, because that would be really a humanitarian tragedy," Nouicer said.