Amman (dpa)- Jordan has completed its first camp for refugees from neighboring Syria, officials told dpa Monday, as a spike in violence in the country leads to a surge in displaced Syrians. According to a source at Jordan's Ministry of Public Works, authorities have completed the refugee camp on the outskirts of the city of Mafraq, some 60 kilometers northeast of Amman. It is capable of receiving some 3,000 Syrians, in anticipation of a humanitarian crisis in Jordan's northern neighbor. The camp comes as a bid to ease an emerging housing crunch in Jordan, with residents and humanitarian officials reporting “skyrocketing” rents in major urban centers in northern Jordan due the arrival of some 80,000 Syrians since March 2011. However, despite the camp's completion, official sources say its opening has been suspended due to fears over the impact on already tense relations between Amman and Damascus. Meanwhile, the number of Syrians fleeing to Jordan continues to rise in spite of an ongoing Syrian border clampdown preventing families, women and young males from entering Jordan. The UN Refugee Agency says that the number of registered Syrian refugees in Jordan has reached 5,321- a number humanitarian officials admit is an underestimate, as many decline to register with international agencies due to security concerns. Jordanian charitable societies have reported the arrival of 3,000 Syrian refugees in the northern cities of Ramtha and Mafraq since the beginning of the month – many of whom single males who arrived illegally or by bribing Syrian border officials. Humanitarian sources place the total number of Syrians relying on assistance in Jordan at 30,000, with the bulk of the remainder working in the agricultural and construction sectors for average daily salaries ranging between 7.5 and 10.5 dollars. Jordan follows an unofficial policy of providing refuge to all Syrians crossing into the Kingdom – legally and illegally – and has reported the arrival of over 200 army defectors since the beginning of the crisis. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/l2Gpk Tags: Camp, Jordan, Refugees, Syria Section: Human Rights, Jordan, Latest News, Levant, Syria
