|
Sub-Saharan refugees now free to migrate to the USA |
|
Friday, 17 January 2003 |
The White House announced Jan. 7 that it has authorized the U.S. Emergency and Migration Assistance Fund to help refugees in four sub-Saharan countries to migrate or otherwise provide for their security needs.
In a statement from the office of the press secretary, President George W. Bush said he has determined that "it is important to the national interest that up to $11 million be made available...to address unexpected urgent refugee and migration needs arising from the crises in Cote dIvoire (Ivory Coast) and Liberia, and from the return of refugees to Sierra Leone and Angola." The funds may be used to provide contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations.
The UN refugee agency estimates some 56,000 people have fled the Ivory Coast since mid-September, when a revolt was launched against President Laurent Gbagbo by dissident army troops. Some 60,000 Liberian refugees were in the Ivory Coast seeking shelter from the civil war in that country. |
