Humanitarian agencies access refugee, IDP camps

Humanitarian agencies have been allowed access to refugee and IDP camps close to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its weekly situation report of 1-7 April. An estimated 150,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were being assisted in eight camps in the area, it said. Some IDPs abducted during a recent rebel attack had reportedly begun returning to the camps, which are located in Montserrado County, just north of the capital. Specific numbers were not available but aid agencies reported that the returnees comprised mainly women and children. There were about 17,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in four camps near Monrovia and a number of them had registered to be repatriated, according to the report, which said UNHCR was stepping up repatriations by air and sea. Exodus from the southeast continues OCHA said people from the southeastern counties of Grand Gedeh and Sinoe were arriving in Grand Bassa County, which is closer to the capital, after fleeing clashes between loyalists and rebels in Grand Gedeh. [Grand Gedeh borders on Cote d'Ivoire and is northeast of Sinoe.] An inter-agency assessment mission that went to Buchanan, a port in Grand Bassa, on 5 April confirmed the arrival of about 1,600 people, OCHA said, adding that more were expected to arrive. Hundreds of other IDPs were recently transported to Monrovia by trailers belonging to logging companies operating in the southeast, the report said. On the health front, lack of access to large numbers of people trapped behind the frontlines had hampered planned programmes such as measles vaccinations. The health situation of the majority of displaced people, particularly women and children, remained a source of concern, the report said. WFP had resumed normal food distribution to camps in Montserrado and the northern county of Bong. However, recent fighting blocked distributions to over 45,000 new arrivals in the Montserrado camps. Plans to provide the newcomers with food were being hampered by the fluid nature of population movement between the camps and security concerns. Land for shelter needed, education interrupted As IDPs flocked to the camps, the availability of land to build shelters for them continued to pose a major challenge to the humanitarian community, OCHA said. The challenge will be to obtain the necessary resources to respond to the increasing needs of a population compelled to be constantly on the move. The distribution of non-food items was becoming another challenge since local militias tended to seize them from the IDPs. The population movement had also disrupted education for displaced students. Education sector NGOs operating in Bong County have, however, begun taking action to restore classes, OCHA said. It reported the International Rescue Committee (IRC) as saying that efforts were being made to relocate IDPs housed in school structures in camps in Totota, an area in Bong, so that students could resume classes. Before the recent population movement, 5,298 students had been enrolled at three schools in the Totota camps, but their number had been increased by 5,536 due to the arrival of children displaced from IDP schools in Gbarnga. The increase in the number was expected to put a significant strain on existing school facilities in Totota. Over 100 relief workers unaccounted for Meanwhile, the whereabouts of over 114 local aid workers from the World Food Programme (WFP), Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), Liberian National Red Cross Society (LNRCS), Medecin Sans Frontieres-France (MSF-F), MERLIN, Action Contre la Faim (ACF) and UNHCR who went missing after an attack on the eastern town of Zwedru - near the Ivorian border - remained unknown, OCHA reported. A reconnaissance mission comprising the International Committee of the Red Cross, MSF, WFP and UNHCR was sent to search for and gather information about the missing aid workers but could only reach as far as the coastal town of Grenville in Sinoe County. The mission reported that between 500 and 1000 people were found stranded around Grenville and needed help. MERLIN said the situation in Grenville remained tense with reports of shootings during the period under review, OCHA reported. Humanitarian actors in the country have also expressed serious concern over a wave of forced conscription of children and IDPs into the fighting forces, OCHA said. Both sides to the conflict have been urged to respect humanitarian instruments that protect civilians and humanitarian workers during armed conflicts.