Thursday, UN Security Council was told that Iraq's government expects an estimated 500,000 Iraqis to return home during the current year in the wake of the improving security situation in the country.
Addressing an open session of the UN Security Council, which was convened to discuss the situation in Iraq, its UN Ambassador Hamid al-Bayati said last month's successful provincial elections were proof of the democratic progress that his government has achieved.
He said Iraq's Minister of Displacement and Migration, Abduk Samad Rahman Sultan was coordinating with Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon to facilitate the return of Iraqis who fled their homeland after U.S. troops invaded Iraq in March 2003, to topple the then President, Saddam Hussein.
It is estimated that up to 2 million Iraqis have taken refuge in neighboring countries, Europe, and the United States since then.
With the U.S. troop build up helping improve security situation in the country, about 220,000 Iraqis returned last year.
"The acceleration of improvement in the security situation in Baghdad and other provinces has helped to return life to a normal pace in most areas," al-Bayati told the representatives of the Security Council member states.
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