al-Maliki Calls on Refugees to Return Following Thursday’s international conference on Iraq, held outside Stockholm, that nation’s Prime Minister says he hopes many refugees living in Sweden will return home. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki made the comment at a press conference with his Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfedlt Friday morning. Al-Maliki said his country needs to get back the talent and competence, and that his government is developing a strategy to welcome the tens of thousands of refugees they believe want to return. At least forty thousand Iraqis have arrived in Sweden since the American-led invasion. According to Prime Minister Reinfeldt around one percent of the Swedish population now have Iraqi roots. Reinfeldt also said that in his talks with al-Maliki he stressed that Iraq should do more to improve the situation of women. He says it is difficult for women to enter politics there, and many have been killed because of objections to their clothing. |