AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan appealed on Tuesday for more aid to assist neighbouring countries sheltering hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees uprooted by war, saying the solution lies in their return home.
Foreign Minister Salah Bashir urged an international conference in Amman to find "mechanisms to help these states cope with the burdens of hosting Iraqi brothers and provide them with a decent living until they return to a unified Iraq."
"But the main challenge now is to find the right environment for a political settlement in Iraq that would restore security and stability, helping Iraqi refugees return home, because there is no other alternative," Bashir said at the opening of the one-day meeting.
Officials from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and the United States as well as experts from the United Nations and the European Union were taking part in the conference.
Iraqi delegation head Mohammed Hmoud agreed with Bashir.
"The real and effective solution to the issues of Iraqis is their return to their homeland," Hmoud, a senior foreign ministry official, told reporters.
"There are complaints from host countries. The Iraqi government is trying to provide all the necessary assistance to Iraqi refugees."
Another Iraqi official told AFP that Jordan and Syria, which are sheltering about two million Iraqis who fled the violence after the 2003 US-led invasion, "spoke about what is required from Iraq in terms of financial commitment".
But he refused to elaborate.
The tiny desert kingdom estimates the costs to Jordan of sheltering between 500,000 and 750,000 Iraqi refugees over the past three years at more than two billion dollars.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has sought 261 million dollars (177 million euros) this year to help more than four million people uprooted by the conflict in Iraq, including the internally displaced.
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