Jordan to build third refugee camp for Syrians

Deputy Premier, Minister of Interior Awad Khleifat said on Saturday Jordan will continue to take in Syrian refugees and plans to set up a third refugee camp to accommodate a record exodus. He spoke during a meeting with U.S. ambassador Stuart Jones to discuss Jordanian-U.S. ties and the impact of the Syrian crisis on regional countries and the need to find a quick solution to end the bloodshed in the country. “Jordan will provide all forms of assistance to Syrian refugees stemming from the humanitarian role the Kingdom and its Hashemite leadership had adopted towards Arab brethren,” he told the envoy. Khleifat said the hundreds of thousands of Syrians arriving across the border had put increasing pressures on education, health and infrastructure sectors as well as the Kingdom’s labour market and placed additional economic burdens on the state’s already limited resources. He said the huge refugee influx required more international aid to enable the country to continue providing basic services and “carry out its humanitarian task to the best of its ability.” Jordan currently hosts over 350,000 Syrians, less than a third of them living in two refugee camps, the biggest is Zaatari which accommodates more than 120,000 people. The deputy premier and the ambassador also discussed an expansion of an electric power plant near the Amman suburb of Sahab. Jones praised Jordan’s efforts towards the refugees despite meagre resources and said the united States backed the Kingdom’s political and economic reform drive.