Cameron Meets Jordan King, Visits Syrian Refugee Camps
British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Jordan on Monday for a visit to a Syrian refugee camp and talks with King Abdullah II, the foreign ministry in Amman said.
"Britain is the second largest contributor to the Syrian refugee crisis after the U.S.," Cameron told reporters after meeting the monarch.
He also pointed out Britain would be taking in 20,000 Syrians "straight out of refugees camps here in Jordan and elsewhere, and giving them a home in our country."
But he also stressed that "it's so important to keep people close to their homes" rather than embarking on perilous treks across the Mediterranean and Europe.
Cameron later toured Zaatari, a sprawling desert camp in the north of the kingdom that is home to nearly 80,000 Syrian refugees.
Cameron flew in from Lebanon where he met Syrian refugees hours after appointing a minister to oversee the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Britain.
Lebanon and Jordan have complained that their resources have been stretched to breaking point by the influx of refugees from Syria, and U.N. agencies have repeatedly appealed for donors to help them aid needy Syrians.
Earlier this month, the U.N. food agency said it had ceased assistance to 229,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan because of a lack of funds.
Syria's civil war broke out four and a half years ago when President Bashar Assad brutally cracked down on peaceful protests against him and people took up arms.
It has claimed more than 240,000 lives and driven nearly half of Syria's people from their homes. Some four million people have fled abroad, primarily to neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
Source: Agence France Presse
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