U.N. seeks more cooperation on Iraq refugee crisis

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations will call on international donors in April to do more to stem a growing refugee crisis in Iraq, where 50,000 people flee their homes each month, the UN's refugee agency said on Friday.

The April 17-18 meeting will seek more aid for those uprooted by violence and new homes abroad for refugees streaming out of Iraq four years after its invasion by U.S.-led forces, said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

While some refugees left before the start of the war in 2003, Redmond said recent violence between Shi'ite and Sunni factions had caused the Iraqi exodus to accelerate, putting "enormous pressure" on the region.

"The hospitality of nearby host countries is becoming strained," he said, noting that Syria was now home to at least 1 million Iraqis, Jordan another 750,000 and Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Turkey hosted tens of thousands each.

Redmond welcomed an announcement last week by Washington that the United States would take in 7,000 Iraqis this year, and said the UNHCR hoped to secure resettlement abroad for 20,000 vulnerable Iraqis in 2007.

Redmond also said aid was needed for 2 million displaced people still in Iraq, including 712,000 who have been homeless since the 2006 bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra that has sparked a wave of violence in which tens of thousands have died.

The UNHCR has often highlighted violence and threats against some 15,000 Palestinians in Iraq, and in particular the 700 who have become stranded at the Iraq-Syria border after Syrian authorities refused to grant them passage.

The UNHCR has received $25 million of the $60 million it has requested for refugee assistance to Iraq, with the United States the largest donor at $11 million, Redmond said.

Sweden, Australia, Denmark and the Czech Republic have also given money. More donations have been pledged but not yet received.

Redmond declined to specify what financial commitment the U.N. agency was seeking from the April conference, which he said could include between 300 and 500 participants.