By IPS Correspondents
BEIRUT, Apr 23 2003 (IPS)

Syria does not allow into its territory groups of political emigrants from Iraq who are headed by former Syrian government head Amin al Hafez and had lived in Baghdad since the end of the 1960s.

A large group of the so-called pro-Iraqi bloc of the Baath Party was joined by Islamic fundamentalists from the group of "Moslem Brothers" that is banned in Syria. They have been waiting for twelve days at the border check point – Abu Rabia – pending a resolution on amnesty hoped be granted by the Syrian authorities, the ‘Al Hayat’ newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, a UN High Commissioner for refugee affairs expressed concern over the expulsion of the Iraqi families from the city of Tikrit, which is Saddam Hussein’s birth place.

The Iraqi families found shelter in the settlement of El Hul in the northeast of Syria and asked for political asylum in Syria, but on Monday security forces sent them back to Iraq.

The families of the Iraqi refugees have small children, UN sources said.

Excerpt: