alt.war.iraq

Palestinian refugees from Iraq arrive in Brazil

AFP
September 22, 2007

Brasilia - A first group of 35 Palestinians who were forced to flee Iraq
arrived Friday in Brazil where they will receive government and UN
assistance to build their new lives, officials said.

The 35 are part of a group of 117 Palestinian-Iraqi refugees who are making
their way to Brazil after fleeing Iraq and seeking shelter in neighboring
Jordan following the fall of Saddam Hussein.

"The 35 who arrived Friday are part of a group that lived in the Ruwaished
refugee camp in Jordan," said Luiz Paulo Barreto who heads the government's
national refugee commission.

The others "will probably begin to arrive in October," he said.

They spent around three years at the refugee camp, according to Luis Varese,
a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative.

Varese also said authorities did not want to say yet exactly where the
Palestinians would make their homes.

"You must understand that these people lost everything. They have suffered a
lot, they are afraid and they want to keep a low profile," he said.

Brazil plans to give them identity papers so they will have the same status
as Brazilian citizens. They will be enrolled in Portuguese classes and will
receive monthly financial aid until they are able to support themselves,
officials said.

An estimated million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes due to
violence and sectarian unrest, according to the UN refugee agency.

Neighbors Syria and Jordan have shouldered the brunt of the burden of Iraqis
fleeing the country, with over million in Syria and between
500,000-750,000 in Jordan, the UNHCR said.

Copyright 2007 AFP.

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