BAGHDAD -- As many as 1,000 Iraqi expatriates, many of them expelled by Saddam Hussein, are returning to their homeland each day as January elections approach. Sorya Isho Warda, Iraq's minister of displacement and migration, said as many as 116,000 have come back, many from Iran.

Statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also indicate a huge rise in the number of people returning, many repatriated by UNHCR.

The former exiles must register for food ration cards, entitling them to a basket of food expected to feed four people for a month. Those cards also are being used to create Iraq's new voter registration database.

"Like every country, Iran wants them to leave, and people are eager to return home," Warda told UPI. "But housing is the biggest problem -- where can we put all of these people?"

Copyright 2004 by United Press International