Geneva, Feb 20: Some 100,000 Arabs have fled ethnically-mixed northern Iraq as Kurds, forced out by former president Saddam Hussein's Arabisation programme, return to reclaim their homes, a UN-sponsored report said. The report by the Geneva-based Global IDP project warned the unregulated return of thousands of Kurds could enflame simmering tensions in the oil-rich towns of Mosul and Kirkuk where Arabs and Turkmen have protested growing Kurdish political influence. ''The change in the political climate in 2003 triggered a revolving door effect whereby returning Kurds, sometimes with the support of Kurdish militia, displaced the Arabs who had been brought in by the ousted authorities,'' the report said. Some 800,000 Kurds and other non-Arab ethnic groups were forced out of areas around Kirkuk and Mosul under Saddam's Arabisation programme and Arabs, seen as more loyal to his regime, were settled in their place. Many Kurds and members of the smaller Turkmen minority fled further north to Kurdish-controlled areas. But after US-led forces toppled Saddam last year, the movement reversed. The report said Arabs had left areas around Mosul and Kirkuk either as a direct result of the return so far of some 30,000 Kurds ''or out of fear of revenge attacks''. Many of the displaced Arabs are now living north of Baghdad in abandoned army camps and public buildings, largely without access to health care, electricity or running water. Raymond Johansen, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council which set up the Global IDP project, called on the US-led occupation authorities to control the situation. ''While the Kurds driven out of their homes by Saddam Hussein's ruthless Arabisation campaign have a right to return to their places of origin, this process must take place in a lawful way and must not lead to new forced displacements. Kurdish leaders say Kirkuk is a Kurdish city and should be part of a Kurdish region in a new federal Iraq. ''Establishing the rule of law throughout Iraq and putting into place an efficient system to resolve property disputes are key challenges that need to be addressed by the current authorities,'' Johansen said in a statement. Bureau Report