IDPs complain of harassment, forced conscription

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been the targets of constant harrassment, intimidation and forced conscription by armed government militias at IDP camps in the western suburbs of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, displaced persons have said. Many of the displaced told IRIN on Tuesday that government militias frequently visited their camps at night, searching for able-bodied men for conscription. An aged IDP said intimidation by security forces had increased at IDP camps, especially the Blamasee Camp located in Brewersville, just west of Monrovia. Another IDP, who was in an angry mood, said: "We are afraid of our own government soldiers who are supposed to be protecting us... they just pass among us with guns". A group of displaced persons who have been staying at a high school in western Monrovia following armed attacks on IDP camps on 9 April told IRIN that because of harrassment by security forces they would not return to the camps. Their refusal came in response to an appeal by President Charles Taylor for all IDPs who had fled the attacks to return to their camps. Taylor said his government would provide "perimeter security" for all IDP camps around Monrovia to prevent them for being attacked. The Executive Director of the Liberia, Refugees, Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC), Sam Brown, told IRIN on Tuesday that the protection of IDPs was a major preoccupation for the government. "As a matter of fact, General Momo Jibba has been given orders by the president to clear the camps of all armed men and he is executing that order," Brown said. Jibba is Taylor's senior aide de camp. Following last week's attacks, he was appointed by the president to take control of security around Brewersville, where many of the IDP camps are situated. Referring to the fact that some IDPs were refusing to return to their camps, Brown said: "If they knew how many displaced had returned, they would not have said so". Meanwhile, hundreds of Liberian women, including IDPs, participated in Monrovia on Tuesday in a peace rally organised by the Women in Peace-Building Network (WIPNET) to express disappointment over the increase in hostilities between pro- and anti-government forces in recent weeks. The rally was a follow-up to a peaceful women's assembly in Monrovia on Friday, during which the women demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and appealed to the international community to monitor it once it was concluded. They also called for a fruitful dialogue between the warring parties for the restoration of peace in Liberia. Government representatives were absent from both rallies.