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UN Official: ‘Syrian Conflict Will Displace Another Million People’
Relief effort for Syrian refugees in Kawrgosk refugee camp, Irbil, Northern Iraq. 21-23 August 2013. (IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation / CC BY-SA 2.0)
One million more people will be displaced from Syria by the end of the year if the war in the country continues, according to a senior United Nations official.
With Syria now in its fifth year of war, humanitarian chief Yacoub El Hillo said the conflict had already uprooted a million people from the country so far in 2015.
250,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which has forced half of the entire Syrian population from their homes, creating four million refugees and displacing around 7.6 million more within the country.
“Unless something big is done to resolve this conflict through political means, the human train that has started moving out of Syria and the neighborhood will continue to be running for many months to come,” he said.
The Guardian reports:
He said that because neighboring countries, which have absorbed the bulk of the refugees, were now at crisis point, “Europe will be faced with a refugee situation similar to the one that led to the creation of [the UN Refugee Agency] UNHCR in 1950”.
“The World Food Programme has zero dollars to provide food to 5 million people inside Syria come November.”
The absolute minimum amount needed to provide food for those affected for the rest of the year was $738m, he said.
“We still have the opportunity to invest and help many Syrians stay in Syria. Otherwise this human train will continue running in all directions, including Europe,” Hillo said.
Hillo said the intensification of fighting in Aleppo and Deraa was of particular concern. “These are two places in the north and in the south where I fear we will be witnessing more human movements as a result of the intensification of the fighting,” he said.
Read more here.
—Posted by Roisin Davis
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Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/un_official_syrian_conflict_will_displace_another_million_people_20150912/
