Basic services still in tatters as people return to Lofa County

War-scarred Lofa County, which was once home for many of Liberia's internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, is still desperately short of shelter, food and health services as people start heading back, aid agencies have said. A joint survey by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the Liberian government and other aid agencies operating in the northern county, found that less than 20 percent of the almost 100,000 people sampled had enough food and remained highly dependent on aid distributions. Lofa County was Liberia's breadbasket until it was taken over by the main rebel army, the Liberians United for Democracy (LURD), and became the scene of much of the fighting in the latter stages of the 14 year long civil war, which ended with a peace deal in August 2003. "Lofa County experienced probably the worst impact of the long and protracted civil conflict in Liberia," the report said. "It is estimated that nearly three-quarters of the Lofa county residents are still outside their original areas of residence." In a briefing note last month, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said about a third of the 350,000 Liberian refugees who fled abroad were expected to return to Lofa County along with the majority of the half million people displaced within the country. UNHCR officially began repatriating refugees back to Lofa in mid-February after the county was finally declared safe, although thousands had already returned spontaneously. People may be heading back home but that is not the end of their woes. Many returnees do not even have homes to live in. "You have a situation where most of the houses are destroyed and the ordinary residents do not have incomes to repair their homes," a relief worker with the Japanese aid organisation Peace Wind Japan, told IRIN. He warned that the perilous state of facilities in the country, which is sandwiched between Guinea and Sierra Leone, might slow down the pace at which residents returned. "The shortages of infrastructure provision are slowing down the rate at which we can operate the repatriation project," said the aid worker, who declined to be identified. And the joint report, based on a survey carried out between January 22 and 3 February, agreed. "Communities point out that shortage of housing may hinder the resettlement of refugees and IDPs in their original areas of residence," it said. With the first post-war elections just a little over six months away, as many people as possible must be repatriated before 21 May when voter registration is slated to finish. So a slowing down of the repatriation effort could have wider ramifications. “There will be no polling outside of Liberia and we are sorry that refugees who are not repatriated before or during voter registration, will not be allowed to vote in camps,” Frances Johnson-Morris, the chairwoman of the National Elections Commission of Liberia, announced last month. Food supplies, health and education all in poor shape For those that have already ventured back to Lofa, food supplies are a worry. "Although communities are resettling in their villages, seeds and farm tools are not readily available and they do not have the capacity to purchase the necessary tools," Abdirahman Meygag, the head of WFP in Liberia, said in a statement earlier this week. "Thus, they will continue to rely on external support to undertake farming activities." Health services are also lacking. According to the joint survey, the 53 health centres, 43 clinics and four hospitals that stood in Lofa before Liberia's civil war broke out in 1989, were all destroyed in the fighting. There is still no hospital serving the county and two districts -- Vahun and Salayea -- have no operational facility at all. Elsewhere 14 clinics or health centres have been renovated and are now functional but the limited number means that people have to walk long distances for basic treatment, whereas in the IDP and refugee camps, health services were available on site and free of charge. Health issues are pressing. Heavy rains generally begin in April, bringing with them fertile conditions for water-borne diseases to spread, and making many of Liberia's dirt roads treacherous or impassable. And aid agencies are also concerned about access to drinking water. "Boreholes with pump, unprotected well, stream and ponds are the main sources of drinking water," the joint survey said. Education fares no better. Many of Lofa's schools were used as barracks and bases for the warring factions and all 260 ended up razed to ground by the time peace finally arrived. "In total 32 schools are either already rehabilitated or earmarked for rehabilitation within the first quarter of 2005. Schools have opened in about 65-80% of the communities, although most of them are being operated at the primary level," the report said. However, it warned that even where schools are open, children were not being enrolled because parents didn't have the money to pay school fees.