Refugees in Jordan wait out violence

AMMAN, Jordan | Sitting and waiting - not by choice, but by the lack of any alternative - describes the life of Iraqi citizens sheltering here from the daily violence in their war-ravaged country.

“They gave me many warning letters and some bullets in the warning letters,” said Mohanad A. Mohamad, referring to armed militias that took over the streets of Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion five years ago.

“Four bullets: One for me, one from my wife, one for my daughter and one for my mother.”

A grenade exploding in his kitchen in late 2004 convinced him it was time to go.

“Now, thanks to God, we are living here,” he said. He works odd jobs repairing computers, awaiting approval of his asylum application to Europe or Australia, where he has family. He won’t go back to Iraq.

More than half a million Iraqis are estimated to have fled to Jordan since post-invasion violence took over their country. Many more sought out the Jordanian capital before 2003 as a temporary home after coup d’etats a half-century ago or a dictator’s wrath in the last decade.

Some dream America will eventually become their new home.

But in Amman they wait, part of a global refugee line of millions from the latest Iraqi diaspora.

They’re not refugees officially, but “guests,” said Nathaniel Hurd of the International Rescue Committee.

Jordan isn’t a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention. It doesn’t recognize refugee status, thus putting Iraqis here in “legal limbo,” Mr. Hurd said.

Mr. Mohamad lives in Amman with his 4-year-old daughter, wife and mother. He was from a well-off Baghdad family. His father a general in the Iraqi army until 1989. He has a degree in engineering.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its September report estimated 4.7 million Iraqis have been displaced to either inside or outside their country.

Between 500,000 and 750,000 “recognized refugees, asylum seekers and other Iraqis who may be in need of international protection” are in Jordan, the U.N. report said.

“This is no life,” said Hanan, 32, a former English teacher accused of working for the Americans. Her family is still in Baghdad. She’s now in Amman illegally, racking up a more than $1 per day in fines for being here illegally. That’s a big expense for one who is not allowed to work.

She is hoping to be one of the 12,000 Iraqi refugees to be resettled in the United States this fiscal year, but is open to any country that recognizes her.

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