By Ahmed Rasheed and Wisam Mohammed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - When Abu Mutaz returned to Baghdadafter fleeing Iraq's sectarian violence for Syria, he found itunrecognisable from the battlefield he had left behind.
"I saw a different city where street cleaners were workinglike bees and shops were mostly open," said Abu Mutaz, who fledthe Sunni Arab Amiriya district of western Baghdad after almostdaily bombings made it "worse than hell".
Abu Mutaz is one of the thousands of refugees who have madetearful returns to Iraq in the past several months, encouragedby better security and fed up with the hardships of exile.
Their happiness at being back has tempered, at least fornow, the uncertain future many of them face in a city wherejobs are hard to find and the threat of violence remains.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, around four millionIraqis have been displaced by a fierce insurgency and thensavage fighting between majority Shi'ite and minority SunniArabs that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Aid organisations estimate some two million people fled thecountry, mainly to Syria and Jordan.
But toward the end of last year, a slow trickle of Iraqisbegan to move back after a major security crackdown in thecapital that marks its first anniversary on February 14.
Instead of dumped corpses, they found shops being repairedand thriving, and even workmen collecting the garbage.
"Our neighbours called and encouraged us to return assecurity in Baghdad had improved," said Athraa Hadi who cameback from Syria with her three children in November after herhusband, a car mechanic, travelled first to see if it was safe.
"We returned to our house and my husband got back to hisjob. We are feeling better now," she said.
"HARD AND DEGRADING"
Many refugees found conditions tough in Syria.
"Life there is so hard and degrading, my family decidedthat dying in Baghdad was better than living there as arefugee," said architectural engineer Esam al-Ani, 37, who fledafter his father was shot dead during a gunbattle in late 2005.
Aid groups say many refugees had little choice but toreturn because their money had run out.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)report for February 2008 found that most refugees werereturning not because they felt their homeland was safer, butbecause they could no longer afford to live abroad.
It also said that the flow of refugees back to Iraq fromSyria had slowed after a sharp upsurge late last year, and thatmore are currently leaving than coming home.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) saidsome returnees had come back to find their houses destroyed,occupied, or looted. Some studies suggest only 20 to 30 percenthave gone back to their old homes.
The IOM also about 50 percent of those who had returnedwere unemployed and many reported receiving no financial help.
Some had been forced to flee again after receiving deaththreats, while others were living in structures with no runningwater that were originally built to house chickens, it said.
Shi'ite Naseer al-Saidi, 52, who works for the Ministry ofIndustry, let his home to a friend when he fled the mainlySunni Doura district for the southern Shi'ite city ofNassiriya. When he returned, his friend wouldn't budge.
"I tried to put pressure on him through his relatives andhe told them that he will leave next month," said Saidi, who isrenting a house from a Christian family.
BULLETS IN ENVELOPE
Shi'ite Haider Radhi, 29, quit his home in Doura for thesouthern Shi'ite city of Diwaniya after his family were sentfour bullets in an envelope, one for each of the men in thehouse. When he came back, his home had been looted, but helpcame from his Sunni neighbours.
"They gave us donations, each one gave us part of theirfurniture to re-furnish the house," he said. "It was veryimpressive even though they are Sunnis and we are Shi'ite."
Many remain optimistic. Esam Al-Ani said he would reopenthe dust-coated design office he abandoned in upmarket Mansourdistrict to go to Syria with his sick mother and two sisters.
"It's really nice to start a new life again," he said.
But not everything is back to normal. The main street inAni's Jamiaa district of western Baghdad remains almost empty,with most shops dilapidated and closed.
A few refugees regret coming back at all.
One disillusioned returnee is Mohammed Salman al-Dulaimi, a50-year-old father of six who fled Baghdad's Ghazaliya districtin 2006 when his son was killed by gunmen. Just three monthsafter coming back, he wanted to leave the city again.
"The situation is tragic -- no water, no cooking gas and noelectricity. If we have enough money we will travel again toSyria. Just imagine, we can't even take a bath," he said.
(Writing by Michael Holden, Editing by Dean Yates andDominic Evans)
