50,000 Afghan Refugees Repatriated From Iran

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 15, 2002

50,000 Afghan Refugees Repatriated From Iran

Over 50,000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Iran since early April when a plan for voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees started, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

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Over 50,000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Iran since early April when a plan for voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees started, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Ahmad Hosseini, head of Iran's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs, was quoted as confirming that since the implementation of the plan on April 3, any legal and political grounds for the residence of Afghan refugees in Iran have been removed.

More Afghans will voluntarily head home from Iran with the reopening of the Milak border in southeastern Sistan Baluchestan Province and closing of the Iranian school year, Hosseini added.

The official noted that about 300,000 Afghans have not registered yet in Iran's identification of foreign nationals and even these refugees have no legal problems for voluntary repatriation.

Afghan refugees will be required to present passports and valid visas to enter Iran from now on and illegal entrants will be dealt with in accordance with law, Hosseini stressed.

The voluntary repatriation followed a tripartite accord signed in Geneva on April 3 by Iran, Afghanistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the repatriation of Afghan refugees in Iran, under which 400,000 Afghans will head for home in the current year.

Iran and Afghanistan are two Muslim neighbors, sharing a wide range of historical, religious, cultural and linguistic affinities. Over the past two decades, Iran has been sheltering more than 2 million Afghan refugees fleeing from civil wars and severe drought.

Following the collapse of the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan, anti-Taliban factions, under the coordination of the United Nations, reached an agreement and formed an interim government late last year, paving the way for a broad-based regime and reconstruction of the war-torn country.

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