CAIRO, September 27, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reiterated on Tuesday, September 27, opposition to sending Iraqi asylum-seekers back to their unsafe homeland, one day after the ex-Iraqi premier accused the government of being part of the violence problem.

"Despite the January 2005 elections in Iraq, authorities are not yet able to protect civilians from violent attacks, including those specifically targeting civilians in southern and central Iraq, nor can access to basic services needed for a safe and stable life be guaranteed," the UNHCR said in a new advisory posted on its Web site.

Thousands of Iraqi civilians have died over the past year, many in suicide bombings, as violence rages between the Iraqi resistance and the US-backed Iraqi government.

The Geneva-based UN agency warned that "premature returns" could worsen tensions between residents and returnees, thereby increasing insecurity.

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a press briefing Tuesday they have concerns that some countries were considering withdrawing asylum status granted to Iraqi refugees.

"Thus, UNHCR encourages governments to postpone the introduction of measures which are intended to promote or induce voluntary returns for persons originating from southern or central Iraq."

Dozens of Iraqi asylum-seekers gathered outside the Home Office in London in August to protest the government plans to deport more than 7,000 Iraqi refugees back home.

More than 20,000 Iraqis have applied for asylum in Britain during the past three years.

The vast majority have had their applications rejected but have been allowed to stay because of the precarious situation in their homeland.

It is estimated that between 2003 and 2005, more than 253,000 people returned to Iraq, most of them spontaneously.

Other estimates suggest that perhaps 1.5 million Iraqis are still living outside their home country, as refugees or migrants.

"We see militias are prevailing now, we see sectarian allocations in various government offices are the order rather than exception," Allawi said.

Slamming the ongoing violence in the country, former Iraqi premier Iyad Allawi had accused the government of Ibrhaim Jaafari of allowing powerful militias to hold sway, posing a threat to communal harmony in the country.

"We see militias are prevailing now, we see sectarian allocations in various government offices are the order rather than exception. They are also being introduced in the security apparatus," he told Reuters on Monday, September 26.

Allawi said the incumbent government is dominated by Jaafari's Shiite Dawa Party and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose Badr Brigades militia has been accused of using violence against Sunnis.

"It is demonstrating itself on the streets of Iraq ... We are seeing the militias of some religious establishments carving under their influence various parts of Iraq's governorates and this cannot continue, otherwise Iraq will suffer," he warned.

The Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the highest Sunni religious authority in Iraq, had accused Badr Brigades of abducting and assassinating Sunni scholars.

"The government should dismantle militias as they cannot run any country," Allawi stressed, adding that security was now "almost non-existent".

Allawi, who served from June 2004 until an elected government took over in April, gained a reputation as a tough politician with security as his main trump card.

"National consensus is being eroded grossly. The government should really reverse course and embark on national reconciliation and reinstitute institutions without militias ... this is the only way forward," Allawi stressed.

"We see an extensive program of dismantling state institutions ... These are ingredients for catastrophe."

Click to read UNHCR's advisory in full