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Iraqi PM says other countries shouldn't encourage emigration

The Iraqi prime minister said on Tuesday that other countries should not encourage Christians to leave their homeland, the day after France took in 35 Iraqis hurt in an attack on a church in Baghdad. Thirty-four Iraqi Christians and one Muslim guard arrived in Paris late on Monday bearing wounds from an al-Qaeda attack

Reuters
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Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the countries that have welcomed the victims have done a “noble thing” but warned that they “should not encourage emigration”.

During a visit to the Syriac Catholic cathedral where the massacre occurred Maliki said that when he last met the Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 he asked him “not to let the east be emptied of Christians, nor the West of Muslims”.

Speaking to RFI on Monday Bernard Valéro, a spokesperson for the French foreign ministry denied that airlifting injured Iraqis out of the country might send the wrong message.

“What do you propose? To do nothing, to keep our hands in our pockets, to observe, to watch,” said Valéro.

“Our answer of course is no, so that’s why we are working on two levels – first of all, trying to increase, to develop the cooperation against terrorism – and drawing the attention of the international community to the very fragile, very threatened nature of the Christian community in Iraq,” he added.

In total 44 church-goers, two priests and seven members of the security forces died during the attack on the cathedral on 31 October.

About 60 people were injured in the attack by Islamist militants and France offered to provide specialist treatment to those most seriously injured.

The group of 35 arrived at Paris Orly airport late on Monday alongside 19 companions. They were quickly loaded into ambulances before being rushed to hospitals around Paris.

French Immigration Minister Eric Besson welcomed them at the airport. He said at the weekend that he fitted the French “tradition of asylum” to take them in.

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