Syrian refugees continue to enter Jordan as situation becomes 'critical'

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Friday, January 25, 2013

The Jordanian government began an urgent aid appeal on Wednesday in order to deal with a refugee crisis as an estimated 20,000 Syrian refugees crossed into the country in the past week with 3,000 new refugees arriving daily as well as 50,000 at the border waiting to cross.

The Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh called for urgent international support to help deal with large amounts of Syrian refugees. The request for foreign aid comes amid alerts from international aid organisations to prepare for a humanitarian crisis and strained resources.

"This is obviously a reflection of the level of violence in southern Syria, and there will probably be more in the next few days," he said. "We are getting aid — we are getting aid from Arab countries, from Western countries, from international organizations. It is still not enough, given the numbers that are coming in."

A spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that in excess of 26,500 refugees had crossed from Syria into Jordan since the beginning of January.

Jordan has stated in recent weeks that it may close the border in the case of large numbers of people crossing the border to seek refuge.

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Sources

BBC News. "Syria conflict: UN says refugee crisis in Jordan 'critical'" — BBC News Online, January 24, 2013
Michael Pearson. "Syrian refugees continue to flood Jordan amid warnings of crisis" — CNN, January 24, 2013
"UN to open new refugee camp in Jordan amid growing influx of displaced Syrians" — UN News Centre, January 25, 2013

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