The UN's top refugee official, Mr Ruud Lubbers, issued a strong warning yesterday about the humanitarian consequences of a war in Iraq and urged the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, to step down to avoid a conflict.
"Even at this very last moment, like many others I have no other option but to pray that Saddam Hussein understands that it is time now for him and his sons to go," Mr Lubbers told the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
"As High Commissioner for Refugees, I am obliged to speak out," he told the 53-member forum. "Let us not forget the suffering that comes with war - the fear, the destruction, the loss of innocent lives, the desperation of refugees fleeing their homes."
The Geneva-based Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that it is currently working on contingency plans for 600,000 refugees leaving Iraq in the event of war. "Every effort should be made to prevent situations which may give rise to new flows of refugees and more human misery," Mr Lubbers said.
The former Dutch prime minister acknowledged the need to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. However, he lamented the fact that that the weapons inspectors had not been backed up with a UN military presence in Iraq.
He added: "The UN should have been at the very centre of any solution. A world without an effective UN cannot be a secure world." - (AFP)