JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell clashed with the United Nations refugee Agency chief yesterday over the EU’s proposed treatment of asylum seekers.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has warned European Union justice ministers that enlargement may overwhelm the asylum systems in some new member states.

The UN refugee chief blamed Liberia and warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor on for the conflicts and refugee crises in West Africa, and said in unusually blunt terms that Taylor should be forced out.

THE head of the United Nations refugee agency yesterday said he expected 500,000 to 600,000 people to flee Iraq if the country came under attack, and appealed to neighbours to accommodate them at their borders.

IRELAND has the second highest number of asylum seekers per head of population in the European Union, according to latest figures.

WAR with Iraq, with biological or chemical agents possibly unleashed, will be a human calamity, the UN refugee chief has warned — exactly a month before a final arms inspectors’ report might trigger a conflict.

The crew and owners of a Norwegian freighter that staged a daring high seas rescue of 438 asylum seekers last year were presented the Nansen Refugee Prize today as part of events marking World Refugee Day.

The UN refugee chief said millions of Afghan refugees are vulnerable to hostility and intolerance in countries where they seek asylum in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The new United Nations refugee chief has appealed for a "safe corridor" for refugees from Guinea's southern borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone.