Humanitarian situation needs attention, says UN official

The volatile humanitarian situation in Liberia could get worse unless the government guarantees security in the country, and protection for internally displaced persons, a senior UN official said on Tuesday.

Ross Mountain, Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, told a news conference in Abidjan, Cote d`Ivoire, that the number of IDPs in Liberia - who he said "have been displaced a number of times" - was estimated at 50,000 to 60,000. An assessment was going on to determine the exact figures, he added.

Mountain appealed for international support for vulnerable populations in Liberia, saying there had been no response thus far to a US $17 million appeal which the UN made this year for humanitarian assistance for the West African nation. "Liberia has the potential to get worse. There is need for continued international support," he said.

The situation in Liberia prompted some 2,000 Liberian IDPs to flee to Sierra Leone within a week via just one of the crossing points along the border, Mountain said. Sierra Leonean refugees have also been leaving. The UNHCR said on Tuesday that since 12 February, it had helped about 800 Sierra Leonean refugees to return home. Because of the insecurity in Liberia, it said, a majority of the 38,000 camp-based Sierra Leonean refugees there want to go home.

UNHCR added that it planned to return at least 600 refugees per week from Liberia and 500 from Guinea. In March, it plans to accelerate the first phase of "facilitated" repatriation from Guinea to about 1,000 per week.

Last year, about 92,000 refugees returned to Sierra Leone from Guinea, including 30,000 with the help of UNHCR. This year the UN agency plans to repatriate about 50,000 refugees from Guinea and help an equal number of internally displaced Guineans.