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UNHCR repatriating hundreds of Liberians

[Cote d'Ivoire] Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and French President Jacques Chirac. Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres de France
Les présidents Jacques Chirac et Laurent Gbagbo
    ABIDJAN

    Some 720 more Liberian refugees are being repatriated by boat from Freetown in an ongoing operation conducted by UNHCR, the agency told IRIN today.

    UNHCR Regional Information Officer Khassim Diagne said the first batch of 200 arrived yesterday aboard the M.V. Overbeck, a ship chartered from Guinea. “There will be four more such trips over the next three to four weeks,” he said.

    The returnees, who asked to be repatriated, were among the 8,000 Liberians in Sierra Leone when Revolutionary United Front/Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (RUF/AFRC) rebels attacked the capital on 6 January. They were given the usual two months’ WFP food ration and non-food items such as blankets, cooking utensils, mats and plastic sheets.

    Around 100,000 people have been taken back to Liberia by the UNHCR since the UN agency began a general repatriation of Liberians from Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea early in 1998. Another 160,000 have gone back on their own.

    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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