27 Nov 2007
AMMAN (AFP) - Iraq is to give Jordan eight million dollars to help its smaller neighbour kingdom pay the costs of sheltering hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees, the ambassador to Amman said on Tuesday.
Saad Hayani said Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh was to deliver the funds to Jordan's government at a meeting in Amman later the same day with his Jordanian counterpart Hamad al-Kassasbe.
"Solagh will provide the Jordanian government with eight million dollars to help support the country's health and educational institutions which provides services to the Iraqis in the kingdom," Hayani told AFP.
According to the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), 4.2 million Iraqis have been displaced since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
The UNHCR, which called this the biggest wave of displacement in the Middle East since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, estimates that 750,000 Iraqis have found refuge in Jordan.
Iraq announced last week it was giving Syria 15 million dollars to help pay the costs of sheltering an estimated 1.4 million Iraqi refugees.
Two weeks ago, a survey commissioned by Jordan by Norway's independent Fafo research foundation showed that around 500,000 Iraqis now live in the kingdom after fleeing the violence at home.
Jordan has said the refugee influx is costing it around one billion dollars each year.
