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120,000 Iraqis enduring an unhappy limbo in Egypt - The National Newspaper

120,000 Iraqis enduring an unhappy limbo in Egypt - The National Newspaper: "CAIRO // More than three years after thousands of Iraqis fled to Egypt to escape sectarian violence in their war-torn country, many say they still do not feel welcome here, but are wary of returning home.

“I wish I could go back home, but the security situation is still not good; electricity and water are not available all the time, and prices are very high,” said Abdel Khedr Abdullah Jawad, who left Iraq with his wife and two sons in early 2006, after violence between Sunni and Shias flared.

The family now lives in a sparsely furnished rented flat in 6th of October City, 20km south-west of Cairo, nicknamed “New Baghdad” for the thousands of Iraqis who have settled there.

Egypt has become a popular destination for Iraqis. Before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were less than 800 Iraqis living here. That number has swollen to 120,000, according to the Iraqi Embassy, with a further 10,600 registered with the United Nations as refugees."

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