Kerry announces $380m pledge at donor conference, refugees reax

(15 Jan 2014) The United States pledged 380 (m) million US dollars on Wednesday to help alleviate the suffering of those caught in Syria's three-year-long civil war. US Secretary of State, John Kerry, made the promise at the start of an international fundraising conference in the gulf nation of Kuwait. "Some of our support will help Syrians immediately as they cope with one of the cruellest winters on record," Kerry said during a news conference in Kuwait city. "In addition we are also investing in meeting the longer term needs of Syria's neighbours," he added. Aid officials are hoping the conference will generate billions of dollars in much-needed aid. Humanitarian needs have escalated dramatically since a similar donor conference was held in Kuwait last January. The United Nations warns that more than nine million people are in need of assistance as the conflict grinds on. It is appealing for for 6.5 (b) billion US dollars this year, its largest-ever funding request for a single crisis. While Syrians living in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan welcomed the news, some questioned whether the money would actually help them as they faced escalating hardships at the camp. "The problem is the money is going into the wrong hands, we are not receiving anything from this money," said Abu Raafat, a Syrian refugee from Daraa. The Zaatari camp has burgeoned into a city with an estimated 120,000 residents living under plastic tents and competing for limited water supplies and other resources. 70-year-old, Ismail Ammar, only recently arrived at the camp after he was forced to flee the Syrian city of Daraa, along with a thousand other people in late December. He was injured when shrapnel pierced his back in an attack. Ammar explained that three refugees starved to death during the four-day risky trip from Daraa to the border with Jordan. Ammar said he doesn't have enough food or heating in his tent, and is not getting enough supplies to keep his family of eight warm. "We call upon the countries who are participating in Kuwait's donors meeting to help us, we have nothing here, no heating, no gas cylinder, we need everything, I'm suffering from an injury, and I have a big family, and we suffer in this cold weather," he said. Last year's conference in Kuwait raised more than 1.5 (b) billion dollars in humanitarian aid, including 300 (m) million dollars promised by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But the needs of the Syrian refugees keep growing. Millions have been uprooted from their homes, many scattered in refugee camps and informal settlements dotting across neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. Around half of the money raised by the United States will go to UN programmes for victims still in Syria. The rest is for neighbouring nations that have taken in an estimated 2.3 (m) million refugees who have fled the country. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...