A touch of normality returns to former rebel stronghold

In this dusty devastated town that once served as headquarters for Liberia’s main rebel army, schools are undergoing repair and homes are being rebuilt as a touch of normality returns to Lofa county in the remote northwest after 14 years of civil war. “We are seeing that things are coming on fine in Lofa,” said Mulbah Farkollie, who was putting up a sheet of roofing on his home, burnt in a bout of fighting in 1999 between the Liberians United for Democracy (LURD) rebel movement and fighters loyal to then president Charles Taylor. "Those of us who have homes that were destroyed are repairing them so that our families who fled from here can return and have places to reside", Farkollie said. Stern Vogt, programme manager of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Liberia, said that Lofa County had received more spontaneous returnees than any other Liberian county. During the latter stages of Liberia's 1989-2003 civil war, heavy fighting nearly emptied the heavily forested district of its civilian population. Some fled over the border to Sierra Leone and Guinea. Others becaming internally displaced people (IDPs) within Liberia. “Lofa has received some 165,224 spontaneous returnees," Vogt said on Monday, referring to the latest information from NRC's many field monitoring stations. "Within this figure 129,809 were refugees and 33,167 came from various IDP camps,” he added. For the returnees, rebuilding their lives is a mammoth task. Krubo Mulbah, who worked as a school teacher while in exile in Guinea, said it was hard to come home to see everything destroyed. "We have to make life better here," she said. "Our presence will encourage others who fled." Also back from neighbouring Guinea after 10 years away from home, Tarnue Kollie said: "Coming from a refugee camp with no money on hand, it is very difficult for us to start renovating homes destroyed in the fighting." "Some of us are trying to use local palm thatch to roof our homes, so as at least to have a place to live in," he said. Official resettlement programme begins In mid-February, UNHCR began the official repatriation of Liberian refugees to Lofa County after it was finally declared safe for resettlement. The UNHCR began a limited repatriation progamme on 1 October 2004, but it was only able to move into top gear in mid-January after the Liberian government and the United Nations declared that 13 of Liberia's 15 counties were safe and had adequate facilities to accept an influx of returnees. The seven new counties opened up at this stage included Lofa. Before the outbreak of fighting in 1990, Voinjama – the capital of Lofa County - was a hive of activity. Lofa's fertile land once made it the breadbasket of Liberia. The county also generated wealth from diamond mining. But the civil war disrupted every form of economic activity and its people fled. Today, Lofa accounts for more than 95,000 of the 500,000 IDP's who have been registered nationally within Liberia. And according to UN data, one quarter of the 350,000 Liberian refugees who fled abroad during the 1989-2003 conflict came from Lofa County. In 1999, when the guns opened up again after a two-year lull, LURD launched its campaign to bring down Taylor in Voinjama, the main town in Lofa county. The town changed hands several times in fierce battles that have turned it into a burnt-out bullet-scarred wreck. Most of its main buildings, including schools, clinics and government offices, have been destroyed by heavy artillery. And LURD fighters piled weapons and ammunition into rear support bases in the surrounding countryside.

Voinjama lies close to the border with Guinea

“We had rebels with guns all over” When disarmament finally came to an end in Lofa county in late November, almost a month after the deadline set for handing in weapons in most other areas of Liberia, the United Nations found itself with quite an arsenal. General Daniel Opande, commander of the UN peacekeeping force, said the amount of ammunition collected in this one county was almost equivalent to the total gathered by peacekeepers in the whole of Sierra Leone two years earlier. Opande said peacekeepers of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) had disarmed 5,000 fighters and collected 800,000 rounds of ammunition in Lofa, as well as a large number of mortar bombs and rockets. Now, for the first time in five years, ordinary civilians are able to go about their business freely. “Thank God that the UNMIL Pakistani peacekeepers are here and disarmament has ended,” resident Daniel Korvah told IRIN. “We can now move about our normal activities without harassment and intimidation by fighters." Kebeh Kessely, a former school teacher who remained in Voinjama throughout the war, said that “in the last five years, we had rebels with guns all over.” Improved security has brought trucks and pick-ups back onto the streets of Voinjama carrying traders returning from the nearby Guinean border town of Macenta. A few shops have reopened, offering food, clothing and household utensils brought across the border. Three bars have been reopened too, offering a bit of social life, notably for staff from the non-governmental organisations in town. "Life has to continue and the war is over and behind us,” said Stephen Zizi, owner of one popular night-spot. But despite the upswing in safety, schools are not yet functioning. According to UNHCR, there is only one school in Lofa county and that is in Voinjama. It was renovated by UNHCR and opened by the then UNHCR High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers, on an official visit in early February. William Jallah, Lofa’s development superintendent, told IRIN that most schools were just shells. “Some of the schools have been renovated,” he said, “but they still lack benches and tables for students and teaching staff". "Our children are idle and want to return to school", he added. Although 16 clinics had been renovated and reopened, Voinjama's, Tellewoyan Hospital, the main referral hospital for Lofa county, had no assigned doctor and very few nurses and medical assistants, Jallah said. “The major health problem at the moment in Lofa is the lack of surgical facilities,” said Reto Stocker of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Vahun district is the only one of Lofa’s six districts that still has no health facilities at all. Located in Lofa’s remote northwest close to the Sierra Leone order, aid workers say it is virtually impossible to get there by car. “We could not even get to Vahun to access the spontaneous returns – the road getting there from Voinjama is deplorable and I am afraid it could be cut off completely when the rainy season starts,” said Vogt. Heavy rains generally begin in April and run through to October, during which time many of Liberia’s dirt roads become treacherous or impassable. The onset of the rains is one reason to hurry along the resettlement programme, another is the need to get everyone ‘home’ so that they can be registered for voting in the 11 October presidential and parliamentary elections. “There will be no polling outside of Liberia and we are sorry that refugees who are not repatriated before or during voter registration, will not be allowed to vote in camps,” Frances Johnson-Morris, the chairwoman of the National Elections Commission of Liberia, announced in early February. Spontaneous Return of IDPs and Refugees Even before Lofa was considered ready for resettlement, government officials as well as the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported large numbers of spontaneous returnees in the county's main towns. Many returnees refused to wait for official declarations and international assistance. "One can not just sit and wait for money," said Jenneh Kortu, who has begun selling second-hand clothes imported from Guinea. "We have to try to make money and that is why is why I opened my used clothes business in Voinjama." Although a UNHCR repatriation programme is now underway, UNHCR representatives told IRIN earlier this month that many refugees continued to make their own way home, unassisted. “There has been an acceleration of spontaneous returnees which has posed enormous challenges to us and we expect yet more returnees in the next month,” said Moses Okello, UNHCR representative to Liberia.