By Dominic Casciani BBC News Online community affairs reporter

Getting Iraq back on its feet will be a major task

Iraqi asylum seekers are protesting against a Home Office decision to begin processing their cases, saying it is too early for the thousands in the UK to return home.

Ministers suspended some 5,500 asylum applications after the start of the war on 20 March.

The Home Office says the fall of Saddam Hussein means it is safe to go home because there has been a fundamental change in the country.

But representatives of Iraqi asylum seekers, who are protesting in London on Tuesday, say they want refugee rights because their country is in a chaotic state with ethnic tensions and Islamic fundamentalism on the rise.

Voluntary scheme

On Monday, immigration minister Beverley Hughes announced a voluntary repatriation scheme after the Home Office had been contacted by Iraqis seeking help to return.

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"We believe there has been a real and sustained improvement in the situation in Iraq and, while it is obviously in the initial stages of regeneration, the country is now safe for many Iraqis to return to," said Ms Hughes.

"Large numbers of Iraqis have come to the UK to seek asylum in recent years, but the situation in Iraq has now changed and we believe it is time for people to begin returning home to help re-build their country."

But Dashty Jamal, UK spokesman for the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, said he believed none of the thousands his organisation represented were prepared to go.

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"The Home Office is looking for volunteers but this will lead to them wanting to send everyone back," said Mr Jamal.

"Iraq is still unsafe. The government simply does not realise how dangerous it is for many people."

Mr Jamal said while the government talked of reconstruction, social and political conditions appeared to be getting worse.

"There is no food or electricity in many areas. There are no communications and no government. Now there are ethnic problems emerging as well as Islamic fundamentalism.

"It is clear that Iraq is not a safe place because it is not even a safe place for American or British soldiers."

Temporary leave to remain

In the run up to war, the Home Office issued temporary residence to Iraqi asylum seekers. These applicants, given six-month's exceptional leave to remain, will be among the first considered for return.

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Ms Hughes said the International Organization for Migration would assist the UK's voluntary return programme in schemes similar to those offered to Afghans and Kosovans.

This voluntary system would later be followed by enforced return of failed applicants later in the year, she said.

In April it emerged that a returns package for Afghans - which offered single people �600 and families up to �2,500 to go home - had attracted just 39 takers since August last year.

Mr Jamal predicted there would be few takers for voluntary return because Iraqi asylum seekers were still seeking status in the UK to rebuild their lives. He said many of the Iraqis in the UK were suffering recognisable psychological trauma after fleeing Saddam's regime and needed specialist help to recover.

"The British government should not be sending people back," he said. "It should be giving them refugee status. We are very, very worried."

Record applications

Iraqis comprised the largest group of asylum seekers throughout 2002 with almost 15,000 arriving in the UK - double the number in 2001.

In the first quarter of 2003 there were 2,135 applications though it remains to be seen whether the toppling of Saddam Hussein affects the rate of arrivals.

Iraqi asylum seekers are among the largest group to be subject to national dispersal with communities established in cities including Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry and Hull.