US gives UN project 30 million dollars for Iraqi children

"It gives me great pleasure to be able to announce today that the United States is contributing 30 million dollars" to a joint UNHCR-UNICEF education initiative for Iraqi children, US official Ellen Sauerbrey said in Amman.

"We will be announcing an additional amount over the next couple of weeks" for education projects in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, she said.

Sauerbrey, a US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said she visited Jordan and Turkey this past week to discuss ways of expediting the resettlement of Iraqi asylum seekers.

"We expect that over 400 Iraqi refugee will travel to the US this month from Jordan, Turkey and Syria and will be resettled in many cities across our country," she said.

"We are working towards welcoming close to 2,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of September."

The United States, which led the 2003 war on Iraq, has been widely criticised for not doing enough in taking in Iraqi refugees waiting in Syria and Jordan for asylum in third countries.

"We have a very strong feeling that it is our moral responsibility to do this (resettle Iraqis). Particularly we have a very moral obligation to those who are in danger because of their association with US forces," Sauerbrey said.

She also admitted that the process has been "slow."

"I am the first to admit my own frustration that we have not been able to move larger numbers more quickly," she said, pledging that Washington planned to step up the process in 2008.

Just 133 Iraqi refugees have been allowed into the United States since October, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in July, blaming the slow pace on the rigorous security vetting of candidates for resettlement.

In July the UN's refugee and children's agencies issued a joint appeal to send 155,000 Iraqi children, living mostly in Jordan and Syria, back to school during the 2007-2008 academic year.

The two agencies said they were seeking 129 million dollars to allow 100,000 children to go to school in Syria, 50,000 in Jordan, 2,000 in Egypt, 1,500 in Lebanon and 1,500 in other countries in the region.

"We encourage all potential donors to join us in supporting this appeal," Sauerbrey said. "I am convinced that educating Iraqi children is one of the most critical ingredients for a peaceful and prosperous Iraq."

Jordan decided this year to allow 50,000 Iraqi children to enrol in state schools after scrapping a previous requirement for residency permits.

Education Minister Khaled Tuqan, who stood alongside Sauerbrey as she made her announcement at a west Amman girls' school, said it was Jordan's "humanitarian duty to teach and educate" Iraqi pupils.

An estimated 750,000 Iraqi refugees have sought shelter in Jordan, a number exceeded only by neighbouring Syria which has become home to more than one million Iraqis who have fled the violence tearing apart their country.

Jordan has said that sheltering the influx of Iraqis costs the tiny desert kingdom around one billion dollars a year, and Amman has repeatedly asked the international community to provide more direct aid, especially for the health, water and education sectors.

The US embassy said the latest pledge brings to more than 183 million dollars the total aid made available this year by Washington for Iraqi refugees and those displaced inside Iraq.

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