Jerusalem, 27 June 2007
In light of the situation in Darfur, the Israel Foreign Ministry's Center for International Cooperation (MASHAV) has agreed to a request by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to extend aid to Sudanese refugees.MASHAV, the department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in charge of carrying out Israel's foreign aid policy, will set up a special eye clinic similar to those it has run for many years in various parts of Africa.
Two Israeli eye doctors will be sent by MASHAV on July 2 to the Kakuma camp in Kenya, where dozens of patients will be operated on over a two-week period. The patients will stay at the camp for a short while before and after the operations.
The doctors will also provide consultation services and assistance to local doctors. The required equipment was purchased by MASHAV and has already been sent to Kenya.The Kakuma camp, near the town of Kakuma, is located in Kenya on the road to Sudan, west of Lake Turkana and about 50 kilometers from the Sudanese border. The camp, which has been in existence for 15 years, holds about 75,000 people, mostly Sudanese refugees.
Dr. Yosef Baratz, MASHAV project coordinator in Africa residing in Nairobi, will coordinate the project vis-a-vis the UNHCR and MASHAV headquarters in Israel.
