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The problem was generally discussed with British Ministers wh Frince Sadruddin visited the UK in June. On 22 June, the High Commissioner appealed to 34 governments for urgent resettlement opportunities for a minimum of 1,000 refugees who were thought to be in danger. HMG responded on 9 July by agreeing to accept into the UK up to 75 refugee families put forward by UNHCR and who were personally acceptable to us. As at 29 September, the UK had received applications from 115 refugees to enter Britain. So far, 31 have been accepted for entry to the UK and, of these, 6 have arrived. the 115 mentioned above, 35 were accepted for entry to other countries before the UK had reached a decision on their cases. Of the 31 mentioned above, 4 elected to go to other countries after we had granted permission for them to enter the UK. The remainder are under consideration. This is in addition to the continuing programme whereby HMG allows Chilean refugees and their families to settle in Britain. We should be interested to know what overall progress has so far been made as a result of this appeal.
Displaced persons in Cyprus
There are approximately 180,000 involuntarily displaced persons in Cyprus. Of these about 14,000 are still living under canvas, including 3,600 in the SBAS and 7,800 in enclaves within the SBAS. UNHCR has arranged for the construction of a number of pre-fabricated houses the figure is believed to be over 1,000.
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The Republican authorities are responsible for the welfare of the displaced persons within the SBAs, but HMG provides hospital, medical and hygiene facilities if requested.
HMG provided £250,000 in response to the UNHCR appeal for 19 m. made between January and April 1975 and a further £100,000 in the autumn of 1975. HMG has now provided some £1.8 million in all including a total of £909,500 ̊ to UNHCR, £60,000 in support of ICRC operations and also to British Voluntary Societies, in addition to shelter provided in the SBAS.
Lebanon
During a temporary halt in fighting in February, the UN Secretary- General issued an international appeal for $50 million and appointed an international relief Co-ordinator, Mr Buffum. The UNHCR sent a fact-finding mission to Lebanon in February, and as a result a list of necessary supplies was drawn up. However, shortly afterwards fierce fighting in Lebanon was resumed and, because of the practical difficulties involved in trying to establish the extent of needs, the Co-ordinator's plans were shelved. The Red Cross was the only body able to operate to a limited extent and HMG provided a grant-in- aid of £25,000 to the ICRC for relief work in Lebanon.
The position of refugees and displaced persons in Lebanon has undoubtedly worsened since February as the scale and intensity of the conflict has grown. It seems clearly out of the question for the UN relief Co-ordinator to produce any further plans for assistance to Lebanon in the absence of an effective and durable ceasefire of which there is no sign at present. When conditions permit the UN Co-ordinator to resume his initiative on Lebanon we should certainly be very ready to consider a contribution, though we would naturally hope that contributions would also be forthcoming from wealthy Arab states. We should need to consider a contribution in the light of:
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