UNHCR appeals for release of abducted persons

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday urged the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to release immediately five abducted nurses and an ambulance belonging to their NGO, MERCI.

UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski told at a news briefing in Geneva that the rebels had said on Thursday they were holding the nurses, whose NGO works with UNHCR.

Janowski said a rebel commander who identified himself as "General Skeleton" called UNHCR from the MERCI ambulance and said they were taking the women to the rebel stronghold of Voinjama, near Liberia's border with Guinea.

The nurses, who are Liberians, were unhurt, according to Janowski, who reported that one of them was allowed to speak on the radio and that she said they were being treated well.

LURD rebels attacked Sinje refugee camp, 80 km northwest of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Thursday morning, taking away the nurses and causing Sierra Leonean refugees and displaced Liberians to flee. The camp is located on the road to the Sierra Leone border.

The area surrounding Sinje had been the scene of sporadic but fierce clashes last month, UNHCR said, noting that the camp had been cut off from aid for more than a month following the fighting.

UNHCR was last in contact with Sinje at 09:15 a.m. local time on Thursday morning, when heavy gunfire could be heard in the direction of Kle Junction, midway between Sinje and Monrovia, Janowski reported. Five minutes later, the fighting reached Sinje, he said, adding that during the last radio contact, UNHCR had advised the refugees and some 60 local NGO workers to leave the area.

An aid worker in Monrovia told IRIN on Friday there were reports that the camp was deserted. There were no reports of further fighting in the area and no news on the abductees, the source said.

LURD spokesman Charles Bennie told IRIN on Friday he was unaware of the abduction of the five nurses. "I've not received news to that effect. I'm having communication problems but I'll verify this once they get through to me or I manage," he said.

Janowski said Sinje camp had hosted 11,000 Sierra Leonean refugees and about 8,000 displaced Liberians who had sought shelter there following the recent fighting. Nearby Sinje town had between 4,000 and 5,000 inhabitants.

Janowski said the UNHCR office in Zimmi, Sierra Leone, was on standby to receive a possible influx of people displaced by the fighting. "This morning [Friday], however, our office in Zimmi had not reported any important influx," he said. "It is believed that people may be hiding in the forest. Some of them may possibly be heading south towards Monrovia."

The fighting has rendered any repatriation by road impossible, "at least in the foreseeable future", Janowski said. UNHCR must again consider the sea option for Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia who may want to return home, he added.

The number of Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia is estimated at 35,000.