Voluntary repatriations to Liberia resumed

A batch of 291 Liberian refugees left Cote d'Ivoire for their home country last Thursday, a source at the office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Abidjan told IRIN on Tuesday.

The group travelled from Bollequin and Toulepleu, located in southwestern Cote d'Ivoire, to the eastern Liberian county of Grand Gedeh, the source said. This brings to 1645 the number of Liberians voluntarily repatriated from Cote d'Ivoire since January, the source added.

UNHCR is also preparing to resume the voluntary repatriation of Liberian refugees from Guinea following a statement by the Guinean Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Moussa Solano, that the Liberia-Guinea border had been reopened for the sole purpose of repatriation, UNHCR said.

Solano said on 13 April in a message to the governor of Nzerekore, a Guinean town about 40 kms from the Liberian border, that "this exceptional measure is valid one way", which means that the border remains closed for other traffic.

UNHCR said at least 24,000 Liberian refugees have registered for voluntary repatriation from Guinea while another 25,000 may spontaneously return to Liberia. The UN agency has since started a sensitisation campaign among the Liberian refugees in Guinea and launched preparatory activities required for the resumption of the repatriation, it said in a press release on 20
April.

There are some 130,000 Liberian refugees in Guinea, concentrated mainly in Nzerekore and Macenta, both located in the southeastern part of the country, according to UNHCR.

Voluntary repatriations began in 1997 but were suspended in August 1999 when the two countries closed their borders in reaction to rebel incursions. At the time, Liberia had charged that rebels based in Guinea had invaded the north Liberian county of Lofa, the scene of fighting between the insurgents and the Liberian armed forces in August 1999. Guinea in turn had
accused Liberia of backing its dissidents.