UN chief visits Syrian refugee camp in Jordan

By Laith al-Junaidi

AMMAN

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan on Tuesday as part of his visit to the Arab country.

During his visit, Guterres is also expected to attend the one-day Arab summit, which will be held in the Dead Sea on Wednesday.

"While in Jordan, he is expected to meet with King Abdullah II and other senior officials," Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the UN chief, told a news briefing last week.

"He will also visit the Zaatari refugee camp, which hosts close to 80,000 Syrian refugees," he added.

Guterres’s visit to Jordan is his first since he was elected the UN Secretary-General in January. He had previously visited the Zaatari refugee camp several times in his capacity as the High Commissioner for Refugees.

Syria’s devastating civil war, now in its seventh year, has rendered more than half the country’s population refugees.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million Syrians have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the conflict at more than 470,000 people.