US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2103

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KUWAIT 002103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/W 
STATE PLEASE REPEAT TO IO COLLECTIVE 
STATE FOR PRM/ANE, EUR/SE, NEA/NGA, IO AND SA/PAB 
NSC FOR EABRAMS, SMCCORMICK, STAHIR-KHELI, JDWORKEN 
USAID FOR USAID/A, DCHA/AA, DCHA/RMT, DCHA/FFP 
USAID FOR DCHA/OTI, DCHA/DG, ANE/AA 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA:WGARVELINK, BMCCONNELL, KFARNSWORTH 
USAID FOR ANE/AA:WCHAMBERLIN 
ROME FOR FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
DOHA FOR MSHIRLEY 
ANKARA FOR AMB WRPEARSON, ECON AJSIROTIC AND DART 
AMMAN FOR USAID AND DART 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREF, IZ, WFP 
SUBJECT:  IRANIAN REFUGEES IN IRAQ 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  An estimated 7,000 Iranian refugees live in Iraq, mostly 
in settlements from Al Amarah to Al Kut. Life for them has 
become more precarious with the defeat of the former regime. 
When most arrived in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war 23 years 
ago, the regime rewarded refugees with parcels of land. 
However, in the last month, some refugees complain they have 
been forcibly evicted from their homes in the south, with 
their houses burned, crops destroyed and land seized by 
local Iraqis.  Other Iranian refugees have left their homes 
to travel back to Iran, only to find the border posts 
closed, and little or no water or food available.  UNHCR is 
aware of the situation and has met with Iranian refugee 
representatives to try to resolve the problems and to 
restart the repatriation of the Iranian refugees.  End 
Summary. 
 
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BACKGROUND 
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2.  The largest number of Iranian refugees in Iraq reside in 
the town of Dujaila, south of Al Kut.  Of a population of 
12,000 in Dujaila, 5,000 are Iranian refugees.  The United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met recently 
with refugee representatives in the town.  One UNHCR 
official described the situation as "explosive" and said it 
could lead to armed conflict between groups of local Iraqis 
and Iranian refugees, both of which have weapons.  Some 
refugees complain they have been ordered out of their homes 
by Iraqis, with their homes and crops destroyed and land 
taken.  UNHCR said even the four Iraqi tribal leaders with 
whom they met in Dujaila stated that it was "time for the 
Iranians to leave behind their lands and to return to Iran." 
Some refugees complained that local Iraqis told them they 
were living on the Iraqis' land and to return to Iran. 
Others said they heard an Iranian radio broadcast, telling 
them to go to the border because they would be allowed to 
cross into Iran.  Some refugee families refuse to leave 
because they do not want to abandon or be forced to sell off 
their livestock. 
 
3.  Responding to these push factors, an estimated 500 
refugees left their homes in Al Kumayt and the River Sa'ad 
areas.  The refugees traveled to the Makhfar Sharhani border 
crossing between Iraq and Iran, and this group is camped at 
the Iraqi border post in the middle of a desert, about 100 
kilometers northeast of Al Amarah. 
 
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DART ASSESSMENT OF REFUGEE CAMP 
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4.  The DART and the International Medical Corps, escorted 
by two Coalition vehicles, traveled to the refugee 
encampment on 10 May for a rapid assessment of the water and 
food needs of those living at the border crossing point. 
 
5.  The road to the border narrows from a two-lane, 
blacktopped road to a one-lane, partially paved road, 
scarred by the 1980 Iraq-Iran war, explosions of landmines, 
and years of neglect.  At the approach to the border post, 
signs posted along both sides of the road read in Arabic: 
"Ihzar:  Haql Algham," or "Watch out: Minefield."  Burned 
Iraqi tanks and trucks dot the barren landscape that 
parallels the highway northeast to the border. 
 
6.  The Iraqi border post consists of a few buildings, 
including one that resembles a miniature castle with four 
towers, long ago abandoned for use by immigration and 
customs officials.  The tribal leader of the refugees, or 
sheikh, says life at the border post is "harder than the 
life of an animal.  At least, animals are provided with 
shelter."   Temperatures already reach into the upper 90s 
(Fahrenheit) during the day, and will get hotter as summer 
begins. 
 
7.  The refugees are camped out mostly in the open, a few of 
them using large tents for housing, including the sheikh and 
his extended family, but most have erecting shacks of 
corrugated metal sheets, supported by wooden slats and 
covered with blankets or strips of fabric. 
 
8.  Although the sheikh says 104 families or about 750 
Iranian refugees have been living at the border for a month, 
the DART estimated the refugee population at about half that 
number.  The sheikh said he expects more families to follow 
them to the border post once it is confirmed they can cross 
into Iran. 
 
9.  There is no running water or electricity at the 
settlement.  Refugee women fill a 20-liter jerrycan or 
bucket with drinking water from a tanker provided by the 
Iranian Red Crescent Society, one kilometer east of the 
settlement at the border and walk back to the camp, carrying 
the containers on their heads.  The sheikh told the DART the 
group receives daily visits by the water tanker.   Refugees 
International personnel, in a later visit to the refugee 
encampment, were told the tanker visits are infrequent.  The 
refugees told the DART the water is clear and clean, 
although it has not been tested for impurities or bacteria. 
Many parents complained that their children suffer from 
diarrhea.   According to the refugee leader, one baby died 
of pneumonia.  Another child died after being bitten by a 
poisonous snake.  Several refugee families had limited 
amounts of antibiotics including amoxicillin. 
 
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IRANIAN RED CRESCENT SOCIETY ASSISTANCE 
--------------------------------------- 
 
10.  The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) sends a doctor 
to the camp every four to five days. An estimated 15 women 
are pregnant.   One pregnant woman, due to give birth in a 
few days, according to her medical paperwork, said she has 
yet to see a doctor at the camp because all the visiting 
doctors have been men. 
 
11.  IRCS also provides a small amount of food to the 
refugees.  The amount and variety of food varies but may 
include bread, canned meat or fish, peas, tea, biscuits, and 
occasionally, dates.  The refugees say British troops who 
visited the camp a few weeks ago brought with them nine bags 
of rice, some tea and tins of pork for the refugees (but 
quickly withdrew the pork when they realized their mistake 
of offering it to Muslims).  Some refugee families have 
livestock including chickens, sheep, and cows. 
 
12.  There are no latrines at the camp, and the refugees 
relieve themselves anywhere in the settlement, which is 
surrounded by unexploded ordnance and mines.  According to 
the sheikh, one child threw a rock into the dirt recently, 
and it hit a landmine, causing it to explode.  A shepherd 
also passed through the camp with his herd, triggering 
another landmine explosion, which killed four sheep. 
Fortunately, no one has been hurt in the camp from UXO or 
landmine explosions. 
 
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UNHCR ASSISTANCE 
---------------- 
 
13.  UNHCR representatives in Basrah said they plan to 
travel to the border encampment by the end of the week to 
assess how to help the refugees.  One UNHCR official said 
his approach would be two-fold:  1) for UNHCR to pressure 
Iran to restart the refugee repatriation program and 2) to 
persuade the refugees to leave the border regions for safer 
encampments until UNHCR can help them return to Iran in a 
safe and orderly manner. 
 
14.  UNHCR plans to send additional humanitarian assistance 
to Dujaila this week to help defuse tensions between Iranian 
refugees and Iraqi residents.  UNHCR, in conjunction with 
the World Health Organization (WHO), plans to send a WHO 
health kit to provide medications to the 5,000 Iranian 
refugees as well as the Iraqi residents in town.  A second 
WHO health kit has been requested and UNHCR will determine 
later where to send it.  UNHCR has also hired an Iraqi 
contractor to provide eight 15,000-liter water tankers to 
Dujaila; four of them to supply the refugees with drinking 
water and the other four for the Iraqis.  UNHCR has also 
contacted the World Food Program about providing additional 
food stocks to benefit all 12,000 residents of Dujaila. 
 
15.  A smaller group of 60 Iranian refugees left their homes 
around Al Kut and traveled to a UNHCR transit center, 20 
kilometers east of Basrah.  The center was badly looted 
during the war and has no amenities.  UNHCR officials have 
visited the refugees there, and strongly urged them to 
return to their homes or to go to safer areas away from the 
border.  It is not known how many may have left the border 
transit center. 
 
16.  UNHCR says it successfully assisted in the repatriation 
of 1,050 Iranian refugees from Iraq until the Iraqi 
government suspended the program shortly before the war 
began March 20.  Since then, Iran has been reluctant to 
restart the program because of apparent fears that Iraqis 
may `infiltrate' the refugees. 
 
17.  UNHCR says it is hesitant to provide assistance to the 
refugees camped at the border because the border post north 
of Al Amarah and the transit center east of Basrah do not 
have any facilities, and are in heavily-mined areas.  UNHCR 
fears additional assistance might attract other Iranian 
refugee families to move to the border encampments. 
 
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RECOMMENDATION 
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18.  The situation of the Iranian refugees in Iraq, in the 
long-term, is more a problem requiring a political than a 
humanitarian solution.  It is suggested that UNHCR-Geneva 
should continue negotiations with Iran to restart the 
repatriation of Iranian refugees from Iraq.  In the short 
term, if UNHCR is unable to persuade the Iranian refugees to 
leave their temporary encampments for safer areas away from 
the border, UNHCR will need to develop a plan to provide 
assistance to the refugee groups without prompting more 
refugees to migrate to the encampments. 
 
JONES