Jordan closes its borders to Syrian refugees: activists

Source : Al Akhbar English

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"The Jordanian authorities have stopped receiving refugees whatever their circumstance, except the wounded," Abu Hussein al-Zubi, a Syrian aid worker contacted by phone from Nasib, where he said at least 1,000 refugees were stranded, told Reuters.

"There are now many refugees gathering on the border trying to enter Jordan and waiting for the border to open," he added.

All four unofficial crossing points used by refugees trying to escape bombardments in the southern province of Daraa have been closed for the past six days, refugees and aid workers said, although the official frontier post at Jaber remained open.

Activists said Syrian families trying to pass into Jordan from the rebel- held border villages of Nasib and Tel Shehab had been turned away with no reason given by the Jordanians.

A Western diplomat linked the closure to security measures before Wednesday's so-called "Friends of Syria" meeting in Amman, where foreign ministers of Western and Gulf states opposed to Assad will discuss the quest for a political solution in Syria.

"The Jordanians are worried about security issues (and) are sending signals to the international community highlighting the huge refugee burden they are now shouldering," he said.

Jordan, due to host an international conference on Syria on Wednesday, has already taken in 473,587 Syrians out of a total of 1.5 million who have fled the conflict in an exodus that has accelerated in the past four months, UN figures show.

The US-backed monarchy has long sought to win more outside help in its struggle to cope with the vast influx of refugees.

The head of the UN refugee agency in Jordan, confirmed to Reuters that the refugee flow had slowed to a trickle in the last few days, but said the reasons were not clear.

"What we are pretty sure of is that the refugees are not coming to the border. At the moment the access routes to the border are closed," UNHCR's Andrew Harper said.

He said fewer than 30 refugees had arrived in the last three days, compared to the usual 1,000 to 2,000 a day.

Last month, Jordan said it was hosting more than 500,000 Syrian refugees and the United Nations High Commissioner expects the number to soar to 1.2 million by the end of this year – equivalent to a fifth of the kingdom's population.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

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