US provides 750, 000 dollar to Bhutanese refugees in Nepal

Kathmandu, Sep 18 (UNI) The United States has provided 750,000 dollars to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to help feed Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

According to a press release by the US Embassy here, more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees are living in UN sponsored camps in eastern Nepal since they were evicted by Bhutan government in 1990s.

The US State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) provided the funds as part of a recent 11.5 million dollar donation to the WFP.

''The total donation will stem cuts in refugee rations worldwide,'' the release added.

WFP Executive Director James Morris said, ''Thanks to this timely and generous US contribution, there will now be sufficient funding for nine refugee operations in Africa and a further three in Asia - until the end of this year.'' Within the US Government, PRM has primary responsibility for formulating policies on population, refugees, migration and for administering the US refugee assistance and admissions programmes, the release added.

UNI XC AK BD1903