Repatriation of Sierra Leoneans by sea to continue

The repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees from Liberia by sea started on Friday and is expected to continue with a weekly load of 600 persons, the office of the UN High Commission for Refugees reported on Tuesday. Some 4,500 refugees had registered to return home, UNHCR said. The boat, MV Christmas Day, delivered the first group of 300 people to Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, on Sunday. It was on its way back to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, and would pick up another 300 people on Wednesday, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski told a news conference in Geneva. "Repatriation by sea is currently the only reasonably safe way to bring the Sierra Leoneans home, as recent fighting has made overland movements unfeasible," Janowski said. Some 10,848 refugees had been repatriated by road since mid-February, but the programme was suspended in April because of elections in Sierra Leone and growing instability in Liberia. Repatriation of Sierra Leoneans from Guinea would remain on hold for another two to three weeks because of financial and logistical constraints and to allow the use of UNHCR's trucking capacity to transfer new Liberian refugees from border areas to existing camps in the interior of Sierra Leone, Janowski added. Meanwhile, UNHCR said Liberian rebels holding five abducted nurses had established radio contact with the head office in Monrovia of the Liberian NGO for which they were working, MERCI. UNHCR said the NGO was able to speak to one of the nurses, who were abducted on 20 June during a rebel attack on Sinje, 80 km northwest of Monrovia. Calling for their release, UNHCR added that their situation was extremely worrying. Several other appeals for the release of the nurses had been made before. On Friday UNHCR also said it was very concerned about the safety of thousands of refugees who remained unaccounted for after the attack on Sinje. Before the attack, the camp hosted more than 11,000 Sierra Leonean refugees and 13,000 displaced Liberians. Over the past three months at least 32,000 Liberian refugees and 4,000 Sierra Leonean returnees have arrived in Sierra Leone through crossing points on the southeastern border. However, the arrival rate of the refugees and returnees had dropped from 200 a day at the beginning of July to 20 a day last week, UNHCR said.