WFP braces for humanitarian crisis

The World Food Programme has received US $5.3 million to sustain its West African operations at a critical time when it is bracing for a humanitarian crisis in the Mano River Union countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, an official said.

Liberia was the most "unsettled" since the armed Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) had intensified their war against the government of President Charles Taylor, WFP's West Africa Manager Manuel da Silva said on Thursday.

"Things are confused, there's a lot of tension and rumours, people are worried," da Silva told a media briefing in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. The fighting has led to population movement inside and outside of Liberia.

WFP estimates that there are 120,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) around Monrovia, with thousands others unaccounted for in the hinterland. Others displaced include 44,000 Liberians in Guinea, with 9,500 having crossed since mid-May.

While WFP had not accessed Lofa County in northern Liberia in several weeks, da Silva said his agency had registered Liberians who arrived in Guinea from Lofa. The majority arrived in "very, very bad shape", the WFP official said. Neighbouring Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire also continue to host large refugee populations.

WFP and its partners, da Silva said, were reinforcing their capacities to deal with a potential humanitarian disaster with malnutrition and poor health as two key indicators of a deteriorating situation. "We have a recipe for a big humanitarian disaster in two or three months," he said.

Guinea, which da Silva described as "quite stable", on Thursday received 16 mt of food as part of ongoing efforts to assist new Liberian arrivals. The high protein biscuits were destined to refugees living in N'Zerekore. Since January some 20,000 Liberians have taken refuge in Guinea but WFP estimates that by January 2003, the current number of 44,000 would be surpassed.

Sierra Leone was experiencing relative stability after a 10-year war, which had encouraged WFP to participate in repatriation programmes in conjunction with the UNHCR, da Silva said.

The launching of a school feeding programme would constitute one of the agency's major tasks in Sierra Leone. Two major issues would however continue to be monitored: new Liberian arrivals and the plight of Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia.

The presidents of the three countries were due to meet on Thursday in Rabat, Morocco, as part of an initiative to seek peace. West African states, under ECOWAS, have also appealed for cease-fire and dialogue in Liberia.

Meanwhile sources in the Liberian capital said there were reports of fighting in Sinje town, Cape Mount County, some 80 km northwest of Monrovia on Thursday.

Sinje hosts a Sierra-Leonean camp with some 13,323 refugees and about 13,461 IDPs. WFP lifted a consignment of food to the camp on 15 June but had to suspend the distribution due to the recent attack on Gbah on the road to Sinje.