Thursday, July 26, 2007

Iraq neighbours want refugee aid

BBC

Jordan is hosting a international conference aimed at finding ways to ease the burden of countries with large numbers of Iraqi refugees.

More than two million Iraqis have left their war-ravaged homeland.

The UN says about 50,000 more people leave Iraq each month, mostly to Jordan and Syria which want international help to ease the burden on their services.

The UN refugee agency has called the exodus a humanitarian crisis threatening the region's stability.

Egypt and Lebanon also host smaller numbers of Iraqi refugees.

Over-stretched services

Jordan and Syria want some assurance that the Iraqis will either eventually return to their homeland or be resettled elsewhere.

The UN refugee agency earlier this month doubled its annual appeal for funding to help uprooted Iraqis to $123m to boost medical care, shelter and other support....

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