157,000 Afghan Refugees Voluntarily Left Iran: Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 12, 2002

157,000 Afghan Refugees Voluntarily Left Iran: Official

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A senior official with Iran's Bureauof Aliens and Foreign Immigration Affairs (BAFIA) said on Sunday that about 157,000 Afghan refugees have voluntarily returned home from Iran since April, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Javad Assadollahi, head of the BAFIA in Khorasan Province, said that now is the best time for the return of refugees to their homessince each Afghan can take all their property and equal to 1,000 USdollars worth of Iranian goods to their country.

Those who leave Iran by Aug. 27 will also receive travel grants from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), he said.

According to a tripartite accord signed by Iran, Afghanistan andthe UNHCR on the repatriation of Afghan refugees in Iran in Geneva in early April, some 400,000 Afghan refugees will head for home in the current year.

Iran had initially set Aug. 11 as the deadline for Afghan refugees without proper documents to register for repatriation, butextended it until Aug. 27 due to deep interest shown by Afghans.

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