Fed: Desperate refugees find shelter at camp, says Australian

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Fed: Desperate refugees find shelter at camp, says Australian

By Heather Gallagher

MELBOURNE, April 3 AAP - Hundreds of refugees fleeing Iraq have sought shelter at acamp in Jordan and have nowhere else to go, an Australian Red Cross delegate said today.

Speaking from Amman, Jordan, where he is based at the Jordan Red Crescent Camp, DonAtkinson said the camp had become home to about 300 residents of Iraq who hailed fromneighbouring countries such as Somalia and Turkey.

Known to aid workers as "third country nationals", they have travelled an average of600 kilometres across desert, risking their lives during the Iraq conflict, to find safetyat the camp.

The majority are unable to return to their country of origin because they fled to Iraqto escape internal conflict at home.

Mr Atkinson said the camp was providing food, cold showers and basic sanitation, butconditions were spartan.

The number of refugees at the camp could reach as many as 25,000 as the war continued.

"Add that to what they must have experienced coming out of Iraq, they are in a fairlydesperate state coming into the camp," he said.

"These people have had to travel six to seven hundred kilometres - they've had to leavebehind their families and their future - it's fair to say they're not very happy."

Mr Atkinson, an expert in water and sanitation, urged Australians to donate money tohelp the refugees.

"People in the camp have fled with little more than a suitcase in which they have stuffedtheir belongings," he said.

"It is very sad to see so many people in one place who have been forced to flee theirhomes in fear of their lives."

AAP hmg/dk/ph/jlw

KEYWORD: IRAQ REFUGEES