United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said in Kabul on Sunday that his agency was ready to deal with a possible exodus from Iraq in case of a US-led war against Saddam Hussein.
Lubbers told a press conference here that Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expected some 500,000 to 600,000 Iraqis would try to flee their country if the war broke out.
However, Lubbers stressed that the first priority for the world and particularly the United Nations at present was to prevent a military intervention and disarm the Iraqi leader of massive destruction weapons by peaceful means, especially through pressures from Iraq's neighboring countries.
"I do hope that in the coming weeks the efforts will be intensified to come to that result," he said.
"This will happen only with massive pressure put on him, not only by the military effect from the United States and Britain, but also from Iraq's neighboring countries, who have key interests in disarming Saddam Hussein."
Noting that UNHCR could not exclude the possibility of a military conflict, Lubbers said UNHCR had made preparations to help Iraqi refugees in case of the war and had prepared its emergency staff who were ready to go to Iraq despite limited fund.
Lubbers, who is here for his five-day visit to Afghanistan on the issue of Afghan refugees, told reporters that the improvement of security situation remained the most important condition for Afghan refugees to return to their country.
During his visit, the UNHCR head went to Mazar-i-Sharif of north Afghanistan to meet with local faction leaders on the issue of refugees' repatriation.
He said local leaders had agreed to work on improving security in north Afghanistan to allow many of the displaced Afghans to return home.
According to Lubbers, UNHCR has a plan to help 1.2 million Afghan refugees return back from foreign countries this year with a budget of US$195 million, of which so far only US$16 million have been secured.
UNHCR assisted the return of 1.8 million Afghan refugees and 250,000 internally displaced people in the country, Lubbers said, adding that the agency would gradually shift its emphasis of the repatriation program from a maximum number of returnees to more sustainable development of those refugees who had returned voluntarily.
He made an appealed to donor nations for continued funding assistance to the UNHCR repatriation program for Afghan refugees.
Lubbers is leaving here later in the day for Pakistan and Iran to continue his 10-day mission on Afghan refugee's issue, UNHCR officials said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2003)
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