The Ministry of Finance has promised that it will make up for the delay in financial assistance for evacuees in Jizan, by paying two months of money to the displaced people by the middle of next week. This was the commitment made by the director of the ministry in Jizan, Abdu Rifae. They will be paid for this month and last month, he said. Rifae blamed the delay on the fact that some people's “documents from the Civil Defense and tribal sheikhs were not complete.” Rifae added that the second camp for displaced people was ready. He said its 1,232 tents had all the necessary services provided. This comes in the wake of a report on conditions at the Al-Masareha camp after a tour of the area by members of the Shoura Council, the National Society of Human Rights (NSHR) and a journalist. The tour included Chairman of the NSHR in Jizan Dr. Ahmad Bin Yahya Al-Bahkali, NSHR member and Okaz newspaper journalist Dr. Humood Abu Taleb and two members of the Shoura Council Dr. Muhsen Al-Hazmi and Dr. Fadhi Al-Aqili. They prepared reports on the living conditions of those in the Ahad Al-Masareha evacuee camp. The most prominent issue was the delay in disbursing monetary assistance. Proving identity Many people living at the camp have said that they do not have proper identity documents and now want an exemption from the rules so that they can receive financial assistance and send their children to school, the report said. It was found that 35 percent of the displaced people have been living in the country for the past 15 years, using “temporary” permits as alternatives to identification cards, the survey pointed out. The survey also stated that hundreds of families in Jizan and neighboring regions are in the same situation. They said that having these permits, and not the Saudi identification documents, has deprived them of the benefits provided to other Saudi citizens. No blankets The members of the Shoura Council and the NSHR visited a number of tents provided for the elderly and found the furniture unsuitable for their condition. Some of the elderly people said they did not have blankets and suffered from insect bites and the poor state of the air-conditioners. The members also recorded the delay in securing jobs for young men and women of the camp.
