Lack of funding undermines humanitarian aid

Two humanitarian agencies have reported that lack of funding could threaten the lives of up to 35,000 internally displaced Liberians.

The US-based organisation, Refugees International (RI), said in a statement on Thursday that unless donors increased their assistance to Liberia, NGOs would have to cut their programmes for internally displaced people (IDPs) and this would make their conditions "life-threatening".

RI officials, who visited IDP camps in Bong County northeast of the capital Monrovia in September, recommended among other things that UNHCR investigate protection issues for displaced Liberians and negotiate with the government for cessation of forced recruitment, particularly of children.

Fighting that broke out in Liberia in April 2001, left more than 30,000 Liberians internally displaced as thousands of others sought refuge in neighbouring Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire, RI said. In May 2001, the UN Security Council imposed limited sanctions on Liberia in response to President Charles Taylor's support for the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone, it added.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday that four months after the launch of the revised Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal (CAP) for the IDP crisis in Liberia, funding remained a major challenge. The revised appeal was launched in June 2001. In its October West Africa Newsletter, OCHA said that to date there has been no response to the June CAP, and that the response to the upcoming CAP 2002 "remains to be seen".

Lack of funding and restricted access to beneficiaries are some of the issues of concern, OCHA said. Others are the protection of civilians and relief workers, and the volatile security environment.

OCHA estimates the current IDP caseload at around 35,000 in the five camps: Jenemana in western Grand Cape Mount County; Bopolu in Gbarpolu County near Lofa County in the north; CARI, TV Tower, and Belefane all in Bong County.