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No Liberian refugee ship, UNHCR says

    ABIDJAN

    UNHCR denied on Friday reports that the MV Holgan Star, which left Monrovia on 6 July for Freetown, Sierra Leone, was carrying Liberian refugees.

    An official of the UNHCR regional office in Abidjan told IRIN that all 84 passengers carried legal travel documents. There were 30 Sierra Leoneans, 30 Liberians, 13 Ghanaians, 10 Nigerians and one Guinean.

    “Some of the Sierra Leoneans had refugee identity cards and were repatriating spontaneously,” the official said. “Liberians were mostly business people and family members of Liberians working in Freetown. All passengers were in possession of ID or travel documents.”

    AFP reported on Wednesday that a ship “carrying some 200 Liberian refugees” fleeing war in Lofa, northern Liberia, was expected in Freetown. A news sources in the Sierra Leonean capital told IRIN the ship arrived on Thursday.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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