NEW YORK, September 11 (RIA Novosti) -Assistance for an estimated 1.8 million Iraqi refugees increased with a $48 million pledge from the US and the announcement of a visit from the UN's humanitarian chief.
On Wednesday, the US Secretary of State John Kerry pledged almost $37 million for civilians in war-ravaged Iraq and a further $11 million for those, who have fled the violence into such nearby Arab countries as Jordan, Lebanon and parts of Syria.
Meanwhile, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Valerie Amos, announced a trip to Iraq from September 11-14, with a press conference in Baghdad at the end of her fact-finding mission.
Amos is "expected to meet senior Iraqi and Kurdish officials and visit a site for displaced Iraqis. The visit will focus on how United Nations humanitarian agencies can support the government of Iraq to provide assistance to those who need it," the UN said in a statement.
US President Barack Obama is poised to unveil his strategy against the Islamic State (IS) – an extremist force of up to 50,000 troops that has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq and forced tens of thousands of members of religious minorities from their homes.
