• 8 years ago
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES: The United States regards the exodus of Middle Eastern refugees to Europe as a "global challenge," Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, reassuring his German counterpart of US support.

"It is not somebody else's problem. It is a test for all of us," Kerry declared, at a Washington news conference with Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"The United States considers the refugee crisis to be global. The impact first was felt obviously by Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. They've born an unbelievable burden in the course of these four-plus years of war."

The European Union is reeling under a flow of hundreds of thousands of desperate refugees from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, and particularly from Syria, which is in the grip of civil war.

Washington boasts of being the biggest single donor to the refugee relief effort, having spent $5.1 billion, largely to support refugee camps in Syria's neighbors Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.