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UN: UN
RUSHES TO AID PALESTINIANS ON IRAQ-SYRIA BORDER AFTER FIRE SWEEPS THROUGH
CAMP: 09/10/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 09 October 2007 -
The United Nations refugee agency has
responded with emergency supplies and assistance for Palestinian refugees caught
on the Iraq-Syria border after a fire swept through their camp.
Some 25
people were injured and 53 tents were destroyed by the blaze, the third at the
Al Tanf camp in less than a year, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a press briefing in Geneva.
She said
the disaster “yet again highlights the need for a humanitarian solution to be
found for Palestinians trapped at the border after fleeing Baghdad.”
An
unattended fuel stove caused the fire which spread rapidly through the site,
destroying tents, personal documents and all possessions of the Palestinians who
have been stranded for the past 18 months at the camp which the agency describes
as being located in a “no-man's land.”
“This
fire has just added to an increasing atmosphere of despair and desperation at
the camp,” Ms. Pagonis said.
A UNHCR
team rushed tents, mattresses and kitchen supplies to the camp, organized
refilling of fire extinguishers, and explored extra fire-prevention measures.
Al Tanf
hosts 310 Palestinian refugees who fled sectarian violence in Iraq and have been
stranded in the border area since May 2006 after they were denied entry into
neighbouring countries. The majority are women and children.
Another
nearby border camp in the desert area, Al Waleed, hosts an estimated 1,400
Palestinian refugees, with new arrivals every week, according to UNHCR.
In a
separate development in the region, UNHCR in Syria on Monday started a mobile
registration exercise in an effort to register Iraqi refugees in the country's
north-east. The ten-member registration team is expected to register tens of
thousands of Iraqi refugees throughout Syria in the coming year, Ms. Pagonis
reported.
“The
mobile registration will help give a clearer picture of the number of Iraqis in
Syria, already estimated to be around 1.4 million and map out their whereabouts
which is important for the delivery of assistance and protection,” she
explained.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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