Share & more
The average number of Liberian refugees and Sierra Leonean returnees crossing into Sierra Leone each day has decreased from 1,300 to between 500 and 700, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
However, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said at a news briefing in Geneva that while the numbers had gone down, aid workers reported an increase in vulnerable cases. He said the elderly, ill and handicapped people, pregnant women, newborns and unaccompanied children accounted for about one-tenth of those arriving.
UNHCR said more than 8,500 people had fled to Sierra Leone since a rebel attack on 20 June on the western Liberian town of Sinje, some 15 km from the border.
"The situation in Liberia remains very fluid and the numbers could change anytime. All it takes is another incident like the attack on Sinje and people will start running again in large numbers," a source in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.
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
