01 February 2008
U.S. To Give Additional $32 Million for Refugee Assistance
Funds focus on emergency needs in West Bank, Gaza Strip, Africa
(begin fact sheet)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
January 31, 2008
FACT SHEET
Additional United States Contribution to Refugees and Conflict Victims in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Africa
The President has authorized the use of $32 million from the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) Fund to meet unexpected urgent refugee protection and assistance needs related to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza and to conflicts in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), and Sudan and Chad, and to support the return and reintegration of Mauritanian refugees to Mauritania.
The drawdown provides $14 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) 2008 Emergency Appeal for the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This emergency funding will support humanitarian assistance for over 1 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza and over 700,000 in the West Bank.
It also provides $10 million to address urgent needs of Somali refugees and conflict victims who continue to flee to Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen, to escape the conflict in Somalia.
The authorization also provides $4 million for organizations that are providing assistance to refugees from the DRC to Uganda and Rwanda, from Darfur to eastern CAR, and from CAR to Cameroon. An additional $2 million will be used to support the Chadian Police Humanitarian Protection Force, a key element of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad’s (MINURCAT’s) effort to fill the security gap in eastern Chad.
An additional $2 million will be provided for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and partner organizations to assist in repatriating and reintegrating some 24,000 Mauritanian refugees from Senegal and Mali after two decades of exile.
The ERMA Fund is a no-year appropriation that is drawn upon to meet unanticipated refugee and migration emergency needs whenever the President determines that it is important to the national interest to do so. ERMA provides critical flexibility to respond on a timely basis to emergency refugee and migration crises around the world.
| IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONS | BENEFICIARIES | CONTRIBUTION |
| UNRWA | Palestinian refugees in West Bank & Gaza | $14 million |
| UNHCR, other international organizations (IOs), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) | Somali refugees and conflict victims | $10 million |
| IOs and NGOs | DRC refugees in Uganda & Rwanda; Darfurian refugees in CAR; CAR refugees in Cameroon | $4 million |
| UN – MINURCAT | Refugees, conflict victims, and humanitarian relief workers in Eastern Chad | $2 million |
| UNHCR, other IOs, and NGOs | Mauritanian refugees | $2 million |
| $32 million |
(end fact sheet)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
