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UN may cut food aid to Syrian refugees due to cash shortage

April 10, 2013 16:20
The United Nations said on Tuesday it will halt food aid to 400,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon next month unless it receives urgent new funding. The cash shortage is part of a wider financial shortfall that the organisation says is threatening its efforts to help nearly 1.3 million Syrian refugees and almost 4 million more people displaced inside Syria by the two-year conflict. "The speed with which the crisis is deteriorating is much faster than the ability of the international community to finance the Syrian humanitarian needs," Panos Moumtzis, the UN refugee agency's regiona

Corrupt bureaucrats trying to prolong vested property return’

April 10, 2013 13:49
Rights activists on Monday alleged that the ‘corrupt bureaucrats at the land administration’ are trying to prolong the crisis on the return of the ‘vested properties’ by lobbying for an amendment to the Vested Property Return (Amendment) Act 2013.The bureaucrats at the land administration want to take advantage of the proposed amendment that will enable the government to publish gazettes on fresh-enlistment of lands for an ‘indefinite period’ and leave the much scope for the harassment of landowners by the officials, they told a press conference.Nine rights organisations and

UN official urges more help to deal with Syrian refugees in Lebanon

April 10, 2013 13:19
The United Nations special envoy to Lebanon Derek Plumbly stressed Tuesday that the scale of the burden of Syrian refugees in Lebanon "is growing and more resources are needed to assist both the refugees and the communities hosting them." Plumbly visited a UNHCR center for registering Syrian refugees in southern Lebanon's Tyre accompanied by UNHCR representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelley, and they met "community leaders from the south and discussed with them the needs of refugees in their areas and other communities hosting refugees," according to a statement issued by the UN.

Jordan opens second camp for Syria refugees

April 10, 2013 07:31
Jordan opened a second camp for Syrian refugees on Wednesday after the United Nations said the number seeking shelter in the kingdom is expected to triple by the end of the year. A first group of 106 refugees, who were among 1,306 who crossed the border during the night, were moved to the new Mrigeb al-Fuhud camp, government spokesman for Syrian refugee affairs, Anmar Hmud, told AFP. The 13,000-acre (5,200-hectare) camp, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Amman, has 750 caravans, a hospital and a school and can take up to 5,500 people.

Jordan appeals for aid to cope with 'one million' Syrians

April 9, 2013 14:32
Jordan's health minister made an "urgent appeal" on Tuesday for around $355 million to provide medical care for hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who have sought safety in the kingdom. Mjalli Mheilan told state-run Petra news agency that the total number of Syrians in Jordan had now reached one million, a sharp rise on the previous figure of more than 475,000 given by Jordanian authorities.

The refugee dilemma: UAE paper

April 9, 2013 13:31
The United Nations aid agencies serving the uprooted Syrian refugees are broke. They say insufficient funds and wayward approach of the international community is acting as an impediment in catering to the needs and necessities of the people in Diaspora. The Unicef and UNHCR say that they won't be able to extend their services, as mounting number of refugees and paucity of aid is creating an ultimate deadlock. "Their main concern is with provision of life-saving aid to Syrian refugees, and that include a good number of women and children.

U.N. may cut food aid to Syrian refugees due to cash shortage

April 9, 2013 11:47
By Dominic Evans and Tom Miles BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it will halt food aid to 400,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon next month unless it receives urgent new funding. The cash shortage is part of a wider financial shortfall that the organisation says is threatening its efforts to help nearly 1.3 million Syrian refugees and almost 4 million more people displaced inside Syria by the two-year conflict.

UN runs out of cash on Syrian refugee spending

April 9, 2013 10:03
The United Nations gave its starkest warning yet today that it would soon run out of cash to cope with the vast influx of Syrian refugees into Jordan and other neighbouring countries. Marixie Mercado, spokeswoman for the U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF, told a U.N.

UN agencies face 'impossible' choices on Syria aid

April 9, 2013 10:01
UN agencies helping to care for the millions driven from their homes in Syria by two years of conflict warned on Tuesday that they face "impossible" choices as funding fails to meet soaring needs. "Agencies including UN and NGOs are forced into the impossible situation of having to prioritise equally compelling programmes," Lebanon representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ninette Kelley said in a statement.

Asylum-seeker boat reaches Australian mainland

April 9, 2013 03:15
A boat packed with 66 asylum-seekers managed to evade detection by border patrols and arrived at a port on the Australian mainland Tuesday, officials said. The boat was spotted within the harbour limits of Geraldton in Western Australia, more than 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) south of Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island where asylum-seekers are usually intercepted. "Customs and Border Protection have advised a suspected irregular entry vessel arrived within the harbour limits of Geraldton this afternoon," Home Affairs Jason Clare confirmed.
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