Famous Movie Star in Baghdad
Jolie's flight to Erbil
was canceled Saturday, said Aurvasi Patel, assistant representative of
the United Nation's refugee agency. She made it there a day later.
After she met with Kurdish officials at Erbil airport, the actress met with refugees at a Syrian camp in Dohuk province.
Jolie -- a special envoy
for the refugee agency -- met Iraqi returnees from Syria and senior
government officials Saturday in Baghdad.
She discussed the
situation of Syrian refugees in Iraq with Foreign Minister Hoshyar
Zebari at his office in Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.
They also talked about the Iraqi government's efforts to meet the daily needs of refugees, the statement said.
Zebari told Jolie that the number of Syrian refugees who have fled the conflict to seek sanctuary in Iraq has risen to 21,000. Many are now living in Iraq's western Anbar and northern Duhok provinces.
Zebari said nearly 31,000 Iraqis have also fled the war in Syria and returned to their native country.
Jolie also met with officials from the Iraqi ministry that deals with displaced people.
She has recently visited
refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to highlight suffering and
the need for international humanitarian assistance.
While at the Zaatari
refugee camp in Jordan on Tuesday, Jolie, who is herself raising six
children with partner Brad Pitt, spoke of the horrors that children,
many of them orphans, have witnessed in Syria.
"I am grateful to Jordan
and the border countries for saving the lives (of those) who are dying
in Syria. It's an extraordinary thing. We encourage the international
community to support the people here until one day they go back home,"
she said.
Jolie, who was appointed
a special envoy of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres
in April, accompanied Guterres on a visit to the Kilis camp in Turkey
on Thursday.
She was previously a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Refugee Agency, undertaking more than 40 field trips on its behalf.
Jolie is amazing for what she is doing and I hope more Americans volunteer to help her make a change. I wonder if she was headed to act for "Salt 2". I hope what she is doing will pay off (Xavier Sherrod)
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