(MENAFN- Alghad Newspaper)
AMMAN — Minister of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs Ayman Safadi on Sunday said that Rukban camp on the border with Syria is a responsibility that must be shouldered by Syria and international community and will never be a Jordanian responsibility. During a meeting with the ambassadors of EU member states, the minister made it clear that those in the camp are Syrian nationals living on Syrian territory, thus, handling the camp issue is an international and Syrian responsibility and not Jordanian.
Safadi also told the envoys that Jordan will not allow the entry of any refugee from the camp to the Kingdom and will not accept any mechanism that makes this issue a Jordanian responsibility in the future. He added humanitarian aid to the camp residents must be delivered through Syrian territory since it's a Syrian issue, indicating that current conditions allow the delivery of aid to the camp from inside Syria.
The minister stressed that the Jordanian government is ready to cooperate with its EU partners and the international community to come up with a way to deliver aid to the camp, provided that this happens for pressing humanitarian urgencies and be part of a wider move to address the camp's needs from inside Syria.
Safadi reiterated that Jordan will not accept any solution that would make Rukban camp a Jordanian problem or depend on the Kingdom as a way to deliver aid. On Jordanian-EU ties, the minister said the Kingdom is keen to strengthen ties in order to sever common interests and face challenges, commending the bloc's continued support to the Kingdom in various fields and help it address burdens arising from regional turmoil.
The meeting touched on efforts to re-launch the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis based on the two-state solution in order to achieve a just and permanent peace in the Middle East region.
Safadi briefed the envoys on the burdens borne by the Kingdom as a result of hosting around 1.3 million Syrian refugees, where 10 per cent of them are living in the refugee camps.
He emphasized that there was a pressing need for additional support to cover the mounting cost of the refugee crisis, indicating that Jordan has never given up its humanitarian responsibilities and will continue assist the refugees but shouldn't be at the expense of national interests and security.
(Petra)
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