EU to provide humanitarian aid to Syria
European Commission says it will provide 85 million euros to help people caught up in civil war.
BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission on Monday said it would provide 85 million euros ($120 million) in humanitarian aid to help people caught up in Syria s civil war.
The funds are part of a 400-million-euro pledge following a UN appeal made in June, which has proved difficult to finance amid problems with a European Union budget over-run.
Nearly half the money (40 million euros) is to go on UNICEF-led health and education programmes in Syria, another 40 million euros will go towards helping some 500,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan. The remaining five million euros will allow Syrian students to follow Erasmus degrees at European universities.
The EU says it has so far mobilised 1.9 billion euros in relief aid since the Syrian crisis began in March 2011.
It says five million Syrians are internally displaced, with another two million having fled the country.
