Humanitarian workers and refugees still missing in the east

The whereabouts of most of the 87 humanitarian workers and 5,268 refugees, returnees and third-country nationals who were dispersed by fighting in northeastern Liberia last week were still unknown, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Monday. The refugees, returnees and TCNs, who had fled recent fighting in western Cote d'Ivoire, had been in a transit camp in Grand Gedeh County. Two international staff from Action Contre la Faim (ACF) and two from Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), along with three WFP national staff who were among the 87, had arrived safely in Cote d'Ivoire. However more staff of ACF (40), an NGO called Liberians United to Save Humanity (13), Medecins Sans Frontieres-France (35), UNHCR (2), the United Methodist Committee on Relief (4) and WFP (4) were still missing, OCHA said in its weekly update for 23-31 March. The workers who were based in Zwedru town, Grand Gedeh County - near the Ivorian border - were scattered as they sought cover during fighting on Wednesday night, allegedly between Liberian government forces and rebels from Cote d'Ivoire. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Liberia, Marc Destanne de Bernis, told IRIN contact was lost with the humanitarian workers on Thursday morning. OCHA also reported that recent fighting near the Ricks Institute camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), 20 km west of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, had dislodged many IDPs, raising the caseload to about 21,390. Following the attack, the government had ordered IDP and refugee camps within Montserrado County relocated along the route to the airport. The proposed relocation involves an estimated 200,000 IDPs and about 19,000 Sierra Leonean refugees. In the northeastern county of Bong, at least 30,000 persons, including residents of and IDPs from camps around the central town of Gbarnga, were also on the move due to renewed fighting. About 20,000 were being housed in four IDP camps in a town called Totota, OCHA reported. Fighting between government troops and rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) continued in the densely populated town of Ganta in Nimba county, 247 km northeast of Monrovia. Ganta, another stronghold of President Charles Taylor, was attacked at mid-day on Saturday by what the Liberian defence minister, Daniel Chea, described as retreating LURD rebels from Gbarnga. The LURD have fought to topple Taylor since 1999. Since the start of the year, they have intensified their fighting, moving close to Monrovia.