UNHCR to host concert in aid of Africa's young refugees

A special concert of classical music to mark World Refugee Day is to be held on Friday night, with renowned Egyptian actor Adel Imam joining in to help raise funds for young refugees in Africa, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said. The concert, to take place at the agency's headquarters in Geneva, is expected to attract up to 500 people. UNHCR hopes to raise up to SF 200,000 (US $152,277) to fund educational projects for young refugees in two refugee camps in Africa: Largo camp in Sierra Leone and Mtabila camp in Kasulu, Tanzania. The money for Mtabila will go towards school equipment. Later this year Mtabila is to be partnered with a school in Switzerland via the Internet. Mtabila is a camp for Burundian refugees. UNHCR Tanzania said that 40 percent of the children were less than 18 years old. It said that amongst the children 95 percent attended primary school, although there was a drop out problem mostly among the girls. UNHCR said the fund raising effort was in line with this year's World Refugee Day theme, "Refugee Youth - Building the Future". The programme for the concert includes performances by a Swiss and a French philharmonic orchestra, renowned Swiss mezzo-soprano Brigitte Balleys, and a live webcam/Internet link with Swiss aid workers in the two refugee camps. The guests will also be treated to a reception. The guest of honour at the event will be Adel Imam, an Egyptian actor who the UNHCR Geneva described as "a legend throughout the Arabic-speaking world". He has been a UNHCR goodwill ambassador for the past three years. Later in the evening, UNHCR said, he would preside over a fund-raising dinner for 50 guests at the prestigious Hotel des Bergues, overlooking Lac Léman. The services of the hotel were being provided free by its new owner, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the agency said, "and the entire proceeds of the dinner will also go to the young refugees in Largo and Kasulu". A number of other events to mark World Refugee Day are taking place throughout Switzerland, including, on 18 June, a Concert for Peace and Reconciliation, featuring refugee bands from Burundi, Rwanda and the Republic of Congo. Meanwhile, a UNHCR international symposium on refugees in Africa ended in Tokyo on Friday. Some 350 delegates attended the meeting, designed to raise awareness about the plight and solutions for refugees in Africa. UNHCR said that it was caring for nearly 4.6 million refugees in Africa “with many other internally displaced persons of concern to the agency”. The refugee situation in Africa remained mixed, UNHCR said. Whereas there was progress in repatriating Angolan, Eritrean, Rwandan and Sierra Leonean refugees, there continued to be a refugee problem in Burundi, Somalia and Sudan. Speaking on the occasion, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers told delegates, “With all that was happening in the world Africa risked being forgotten.” He said, “Let us work together to maximize this opportunity to focus on Africa and keep it on the map.”