Le nouvel obs, 18 Octobre 2012
Syrie: 150.000 réfugiés en Egypte, selon l’ONU
LE CAIRE (Sipa) – Le nombre de réfugiés syriens en Egypte a grimpé de
95.000 le mois dernier à 150.000 aujourd’hui, a déclaré jeudi le Haut
commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR).
Mohamed Dayri a précisé que, bien que la guerre civile en Syrie ait des
répercussions de plus en plus importantes en Egypte, seuls 4.800 Syriens
étaient enregistrés auprès du HCR au Caire. Il a appelé l’Egypte à aider
l’agence onusienne à répondre à „l’urgence croissante“ des réfugiés
syriens sur son territoire.
Un autre responsable de l’ONU au Caire, s’exprimant sous le couvert de
l’anonymat, a suggéré que les pays voisins de la Syrie atteignaient leur
„point de saturation“ de réfugiés, ce qu iprovoquait un afflux en Egypte,
où la vie est moins chère. Il a affirmé que de nombreux réfugiés syriens
vivaient sur leurs économies sans s’inscrire auprès du HCR.
The Egyptian Gazette 19 October 2012
UNHCR: 150,000 Syrian refugees in Egypt
http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.php?action=news&id=27900&title=UNHCR:%20150,000%20Syrian%20refugees%20in%20Egypt
CAIRO – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s Mohamed
Dayri has said on Thursday that there are 150,000 Syrian refugees in
Egypt.
“Despite this, only 4,800 Syrians have registered with the refugee
agency in Cairo,” he added in a Cairo meeting on the humanitarian
situation in Syria and neighbouring countries.
Dayri, who said that they reside mainly in Cairo and Alexandria, called
on Egypt to help the agency deal with the increasing number of Syrian
refugees here.
Meanwhile, over 340,000 Syrians have crossed the border to Syria’s
neighbours – Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. Seventy-five per cent of
them are women and children.
„This number could hit 710,000 by the end of the year,“ warned Panos
Moumtzis, the Regional Refugee Co-ordinator for Syrian Refugees.
„We suffer a problem in funding. We need urgent funds of $487 million
to provide these refugees’ basic needs. At the moment, we only have
$141.5 million.”
The security situation continues to deteriorate as the conflict
escalates in the largest cities – Aleppo and Damascus. Aleppo is
suffering its third consecutive month of fighting.
Increasing numbers of people have been forced to leave Aleppo and its
surrounding rural areas, with over 42,000 of them now staying in
shelters.
Fighting moved to the Syrian-Turkish border and tensions between the
two countries escalated, when on October 3 shelling from Syria claimed
the lives of five women and children in the Turkish village of
Akcakeale, which triggered Turkey’s retaliatory artillery fire into
Syria.
Syrians keep on fleeing their homes to seek refuge in safer areas.
Around 1.2 million of the 2.5 million affected population are
internally displaced, with many staying in schools and other public
buildings.
„The situation in Syria is deteriorating day by day. About 50 per cent
of industry there has ground to a halt, while 2,000 schools have been
devastated, and tourism, agriculture and the economy have been badly
affected,“ said Radhoune Nouicer, the Regional Humanitarian
Co-ordinator for Syria.
„Women, old people and children are in shock and very frightened, as
they witness death and blood everywhere. We need an urgent solution and
dialogue to resolve the crisis. This violence must be stopped,“ he
added.
With the onset of winter, the humanitarian situation is likely to
worsen, as the loss of livelihoods and increasing prices make access to
essential items, such as fuel, heating and electricity, increasingly
difficult.
The situation is particularly dire for those living in shelters,
lacking adequate insulation from the cold.
„The crisis is also taking its toll on the Palestinian refugees in
Syria, because, according to the United nations Relief and Works Agency
[UNRWA], there are 220,000 Palestinians in Syria in need of urgent
humanitarian aid,“ Nouicer stressed.