The United States on Monday announced an additional $138 million contribution toward the 2008 operations of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The contribution is in addition to previously announced ones totaling $95.4 million for UNHCR's Iraq programs and another $10 million to support the agency's refugee resettlement efforts, the State Department said in a statement. The latest U.S. contribution brings its support to UNHCR to over $240 million so far in 2008. “The $138 million contribution will support UNHCR efforts to provide protection, assistance, and solutions for refuges or internally-displaced persons from Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, the northern Caucasus, Serbia, Kosovo, Colombia, and elsewhere,” the statement said. According to the department, $80.2 million is allocated for Africa, $21.1 million for Asia and the Pacific, $9.8 million for Europe, $7 million for global operations, $5.9 million for North Africa and the Middle East, $5.7 million for UNHCR headquarters, $4.3 million for the Western Hemisphere, and $4 million for operational reserve activities.
