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He said the UNHCR had received just 40 percent of what it needed to provide humanitarian help to help Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees. In Guinea the decision to move refugees away from the border, where they have been victims of attacks by armed groups from Sierra Leone, has been hampered by the lack of funds.
Jessen-Petersen is in Cote d'Ivoire for a meeting of UNHCR representatives from West and Central Africa to review the organisation's activities in these regions. He told reporters participants had discussed the possibility of establishing a "regional pact" that would create an environment for economic and political stability and deal with humanitarian issues.
He decried the little money available to African governments like Liberia saying that the country's annual budget was US $70 million, one-fifth of the UNHCR budget for Africa.
"That is a reason why we want this pact," he said.
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