Regional meeting discusses implications of Ivorian situation

A two-day emergency regional workshop to discuss the situation in Cote d’Ivoire, its humanitarian implications, potential impact on neighbouring countries, and the challenges ahead, opened on Thursday in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. Addressing the participants - representatives of UN agencies, NGOs and other development partners - the UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana, Alfred Fawundu, said the situation in Cote d’Ivoire should act as a pointer to the vulnerability of the countries of the subregion. He stressed the need for the subregion to find ways to pre-empt such crises. Fawundu also emphasized the pivotal role of the UN, NGOs, governments and other development partners with regard to intervention and timely responses in such emergencies. "The situation in Cote d’Ivoire calls for swift and innovative approaches to crisis prevention, management and response as (...) a further deterioration in the country could have implications for the country and the subregion," Besida Tonwe, head of the Abidjan-based Regional Support Office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affaires (OCHA), said. Thousands of people have been displaced in Cote d’Ivoire, where insurgents who tried to overthrow the government are holding locations in the north and centre of the country. Participants in the Accra meeting said that although the insurgents had signed a ceasefire on Thursday, populations were still vulnerable. Their main needs included food, water and sanitation, health care and shelter. Cote d'Ivoire has a large immigrant population and UN country teams in the various countries of the subregion, in consultation with the respective governments and other development partners, have put in place draft contingency plans and identified areas of need. Countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and Niger have been preparing for the possible return of their nationals. They have also been preparing to receive other migrants en route for their home countries, possible Ivorian refugees and other refugees formerly hosted by Cote d'Ivoire. The workshop was told that the level of mobilisation was high in Burkina Faso, where two missions visited areas bordering on Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday and Wednesday to identify possible transit centres. The Burkinabe government also has a disaster management body that is looking into ways to assist populations needing help. Benin has been preparing for the return of up to 200,000 of its nationals and the arrival of possibly twice as many other West Africans transiting through its territory. The government has set up an inter-ministerial committee to look into the matter. Togo's government was bracing for the return of some 70,000 Togolese - along with other West Africans - but was still to reach a high level of planning, the meeting was told. The same goes for Niger, whose government has set up a crisis team. A government official said the country was preparing for up to 700,000 returnees. Some 3,285 displaced persons were reported to have arrived in Mali between 28 September and 15 October. A UN interagency group conducted a rapid assessment in the areas where they are being hosted while the government was also looking into the issue, participants said. In Ghana, UN agencies set up a contingency planning task force in early October and have now established a joint coordination committee with the Ministry of the Interior and the International Organisation on Migration. Steps are being taken to position food and non-food items so as to cater immediately for 10,000 to 40,000 arrivals. Draft contingency plans for Liberia and Sierra Leone were also presented at the workshop, organised by OCHA and hosted by the UN Development Programme in Ghana.