Aid body launches emergency aid appeal for IDPs

Tens of thousands of people fleeing fighting in northern Liberia are in desperate need of help, prompting the American Refugee Committee to launch an emergency appeal for money, the aid body reported on Thursday. It reported that the IDPs - fleeing fighting in Lofa County between government forces and Liberian dissidents - have been walking south into areas where clean water, sanitation, shelter and medical care are scarce. Citing government sources, the organisation said at least 60,000 people had been uprooted by the recent fighting close to the border with Guinea. Between 700 and 1,000 were arriving each day at a camp in Bong County, which adjoins Lofa. Another 12,000 were waiting at a bridge between Lofa and Bong counties, with the Liberian army “strictly controlling” the numbers that can reach safety, it said. ARC said it was trying to provide essential supplies and equipment to at least 5,000 people at an old agricultural compound in Bong County which serves as a camp for the displaced. “The displaced persons are taking water from a nearby swamp,” Shaun Skelton, the organisation’s country director for Liberia, said. “There is no sanitation at all, not even pit latrines. Some corn meal and oil have been distributed by the World Food Programme, but it is insufficient.” ARC said it was trying to provide tarpaulins, chlorine, plastic water containers, pit latrines and bathrooms, food, charcoal and firewood, emergency vaccinations, primary health units and fuel for trucks. ARC said money contributions would also be used to relocate people still trapped in upper Lofa. ARC President and CEO Anthony Kozlowski said help was “especially vital” in the wake of the Security Council’s application this week of tighter sanctions on Liberia for supporting rebels in Sierra Leone. ARC is a Minneapolis-based international humanitarian aid body with operations in Africa, Asia and Europe.