A decision by Liberia’s government to restrict diplomats and representatives of intergovernmental organisations to within 60 km of the capital is hampering the work of relief agencies, according to a UN source.
“Our operations are already affected by the recent restrictions,” World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Ramine Rafirasme told IRIN. “I hope humanitarian agencies like us will be granted permission soon” to leave the capital area.
In a letter dated 30 April to representatives of the international community, Liberia’s government said the move was meant to protect the officials from an insurgency in the northern county of Lofa. Anyone wanting to go farther away from Monrovia has to apply for permission from the Foreign Ministry.
WFP provides food for about 285,000 people in Liberia through food-for-work, therapeutic-feeding and schoolfeeding programmes as well as other initiatives such as feeding Sierra Leonean refugees and Liberian returnees and displaced persons, Rafirasme said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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