UNHCR recommends relocation of Sierra Leonean refugees

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday recommended to Liberia's government to relocate Sierra Leonean refugees living in Kolahun in the northwest Liberian county of Lofa. UNHCR said in a news release that it made the recommendation because of the security problems the refugees have been encountering since the evacuation of aid agencies from Lofa. "An inter-agency humanitarian mission led by UNHCR and which included members of the NGO community in Monrovia visited on 2 September Kolahun and Vahun in Lofa ... and received testimonies from refugees that they no longer felt secure in the area," UNHCR said. Refugees cited numerous incidents of harassment by Liberian security forces, it added. They also said that for the moment food, water and medical care were available, but they feared that aid agencies would no longer return to Lofa. Aid agencies pulled out of the county last month following the outbreak of fighting between government troops and rebels. The mission's aim was to verify reports that everything had been looted, including millions of dollars' worth of food stocks, vehicles, and office equipment. Since last week, thousands of Sierra Leoneans fled camps in upper Lofa and headed south to safer areas. According to UNHCR, some 5,000 have arrived in Targbe in lower Lofa and are receiving assistance from UNHCR and other aid agencies. Thursday's inter-agency mission counted 8,000 who had remained in Kolahun. According to the UNHCR regional director for West and Central Africa, Abou Moussa, "the conclusions of a security mission sent in the area earlier this week as well as those of this humanitarian team are the same: insecurity is prevalent in Lofa and in these conditions we recommended today to the Liberian Government to relocate the refugees". The "exercise would require the mobilisation of huge financial and material resources, but it is essential for the protection of the refugees, which is the mandate of UNHCR," Moussa said. "...in the meantime, UNHCR is working in partnership with other organisations to bring relief to the refugees who have left their dwellings in Lofa' Some 35,000 of the 90,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia live in Lofa, including 15,000 in Kolahun, according to UNHCR.