Angelina Jolie visits refugees in Iraq

Actress Angelina Jolie today visited Iraq to meet refugees and US troops, the UN refugee agency said.

Jolie, who is a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, made the visit during a two-day trip to the region, the agency said in a statement.

It said Jolie met displaced Iraqis in neighbouring Syria yesterday before crossing into Iraq for a few hours today “to see first-hand the plight of hundreds of thousands of families uprooted by the ongoing conflict”.

“I have come to Syria and Iraq to help draw attention to this humanitarian crisis and to urge governments to increase their support for UNHCR and its partners,” Jolie said.

Geneva-based UNHCR estimates more than 4.2 million Iraqis have left their homes, most of them since the 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Of these, about two million have fled to neighbouring countries including Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon.

Thousands of Iraqis continue to stream into Syria every day, placing a heavy strain on the country’s housing, health care and education sectors, according to UNHCR.

Last month, the agency launched an appealed with Unicef for almost £65 million to help provide an education to displaced Iraqi children across the Middle East. The US announced today that it would contribute 30 million dollars (£15 million) to the appeal.

Jolie, 32, travelled to the al-Waleed refugee camp on the Iraqi side of the border and spoke to some of the 1,200 Iraqis living there before visiting a contingent of US troops in the area, UNCHR said.

The trip had been organised weeks in advance at Jolie’s request, UNHCR spokeswoman Astrid Van Genderen Stort said.

Jolie has worked with UNHCR since early 2001. In May, a foundation set up by Jolie and Brad Pitt donated £500,000 to help those affected by the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region and neighbouring Chad.

Jolie was not immediately available for comment in Syria. She leaves there tomorrow.