The opening of a third refugee camp in Jordan next month is "timely" as the number of Syrians crossing the border has grown sharply, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in Geneva it "welcomes a decision this week by the Jordanian government to open the country's third refugee camp—Azraq—in a few weeks from now on 30 April." The camp, located 100 kilometers east of Amman, will take some pressure off Jordan's main Zaatari camp, which is overwhelmed, the UNHCR said. "The opening will be timely as the past weeks have seen the numbers of people crossing the border increasing by 50 percent to an average of approximately 600 daily," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters. Jordan currently hosts almost 585,000 registered Syrian refugees, according to UNHCR data. Only 20 percent of them live in camps, with the rest living in urban areas.
