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The World Food Programme (WFP) began on Monday its first food distribution drive for refugees who have fled into Cote d’Ivoire as a result of the fighting in Liberia’s northern county of Lofa, WFP’s regional spokesman, Ramin Rafirasme, told IRIN on Tuesday.
Corn, vegetables, vegetable oil and salt will be distributed to those who, since early May, have arrived in western Cote d’Ivoire’s ‘Zone d’accueil des refugies’ (Refugee Reception Zone) and have volunteered to be resettled at the Nicla camp in Guiglo.
More than 500 refugees, out of the 1,068 who have registered, settled in Nicla on Monday. Each received 460g of corn, 65g of vegetables, 30g of vegetable oil and 5g of salt, amounting to 2,100 calories per day. The rest will be transferred during this week.
UNHCR is also participating in the operation. It is providing three trucks for the transport of the refugees and their belongings, and distributing non-food items such mats, blankets, soap, kitchen utensils and containers, UNHCR’s sub-office in Danane told IRIN. The two agencies will continue the operation as long as new arrivals ask to be transferred to Nicla, the office said.
More than 4,000 Liberians have arrived in Danane and Guiglo, the two towns that make up the refugee zone, since early May. The area was designated in the early 1990s to host Liberians fleeing their country’s 1989-1996 war. It still has more than 122,000 refugees, including Sierra Leoneans.
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
