U.N. posts representative to Baghdad to handle refugee crisis

BAGHDAD -- The United Nations refugee chief said Saturday he is sending a representative to Baghdad to help millions of displaced Iraqis return home, showing a strengthened U.N. commitment to deal with the crisis and confidence in recent security gains.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres also pledged to increase his group's staffing level in Baghdad from two to five people.

"We have confidence in the future of Iraq," Guterres said at a joint news conference with Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

Meanwhile, the top Iraqi commander for Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar, said the number of bullet-riddled bodies found daily has dropped from at least 43 to about four under a year-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in the capital.

But Quanbar added that the battle was not over.

"An end date cannot be set for this security plan because of the kind of battle we are fighting against an enemy represented by insurgency and terrorism," Qanbar said.

Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi said separately that the buildup of U.S. troops has helped secure most of Baghdad. But challenges remain from al-Qaida in the north and what he called "criminals, gangs and smugglers" in the south, where Shiite militias are involved in a violent power struggle.

He said U.S. troops should remain in Iraq until domestic security forces are able to take their place, and the long-term need for U.S. troops will be mostly related to border protection.

"There is 90 percent security in the capital," al-Obeidi told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a meeting in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Yet deadly violence in the streets of Baghdad remains a daily occurrence.

Two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said police found two handcuffed, blindfolded and shot-up bodies showing signs of torture in Baghdad on Saturday. Those killed were apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads usually run by Shiite militias.

That was in sharp contrast to the dozens of bodies found on a typical day before Muqtada al-Sadr's ordered his militia fighters to stand down. The six-month cease-fire expires at the end of this month and it remains uncertain whether the radical Shiite cleric will extend it.

Guterres said the new U.N. representative on the refugee crisis "will be in Baghdad and no longer in Amman as it has been the case. We believe it is here that the essential work needs to be done."

The U.N. and many other aid agencies moved from Baghdad to Amman after a couple of devastating attacks, including the truck bombing of the world body's Iraq headquarters in August 2003 that killed 22 people including the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

The UNHCR estimated this week that 2 million Iraqis have fled their war-ravaged country, many to neighboring Syria and Jordan. Another 2.4 million are thought to be displaced from their homes but living inside the country, either because of Saddam Hussein's actions during his rule or because of the war.

Zebari said that, with decreasing violence in many areas of the nation over the past year, some internally displaced placed people have been moving back to their neighborhoods.

A recent Interior Ministry assessment found "nearly 4,000 families that have gone back to their homes willingly," he said.

But he and Guterres agreed that much more needs to be done. The two sides said they will begin talking about how to assess when conditions are right for a more substantial return of refugees.

"There is never a humanitarian solution to a humanitarian problem," Guterres cautioned. "The plight of Iraqi refugees will end with national reconciliation and with their effective reintegration in the country and their contribution to the reconstruction of the country."

Last year, statements from the Iraqi government that the country was secure enough to handle a substantial return of refugees raised concerns from both the U.N. and the American military. The U.S. warned a massive repatriation could rekindle sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites and some returnees found their Baghdad homes occupied by members of the other Muslim sect.

In remarks aired on state television late Friday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki thanked U.S.-led forces for what he called a "victory in Baghdad" and promised to pursue insurgents who have fled northward after being pushed out of other parts of the country.

Al-Maliki has promised there will be a "decisive battle" in Mosul, the last major urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Hundreds of former troops from Saddam Hussein's disbanded army have volunteered to join the Iraqi army ahead of the planned offensive, according to Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul-Sattar, an Iraqi military spokesman for Ninevah province, which includes Mosul.