17 RI students stay put in Iraq

JAKARTA: At least 17 of 34 Indonesian students evacuated from Iraq to Syria recently have decided to return to Iraq at their own risk, an official said Friday.

Director for Information and Media at the foreign ministry, Wahid Supriyadi, said here Friday that his directorate had reminded the students of the dangers they may encounter if they stayed in Iraq.

The students, however, insisted on returning to Iraq and had signed a statement saying that they went back to Iraq of their own free will and would be responsible for their own decisions.

"They insisted on pursuing their studies in Iraq fearing that if they drop out of school as classes at Damascus University in Syria had already been going on for three months now," Supriyadi said.

The students are studying at Baghdad University, Saddam University, and Mustan Shiryah Language Institute.

Fourteen of the 34 students decided to continue their studies at the Damascus University in Syria, whole three others have decided to return to Indonesia.

There are approximately 50,000 Indonesian nationals in the Middle East -- 33,000 in Kuwait, 6,000 in Jordan, 5,000 in Bahrain, 4,000 in Saudi Arabia-Iraq border areas, and another 4,000 in Qatar. --Antara