Assistance planned for refugee-hosting zone

A humanitarian action plan for western Cote d'Ivoire, which hosts a large refugee population, is to be discussed at a seminar in Abidjan on Tuesday. Organised by the newly-opened UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) West Africa Regional Support Office, the two-day seminar will devise strategies to raise funds for the needs of refugees in the Zone d'Accueil des refugies (ZAR, or Refugee Host Area). The seminar will review the humanitarian situation in the refugee host area and draft a new action plan based on the situation, which has changed since the early 1990s, OCHA said. The participants, including the Ivorian government and several UN agencies will use the new plan to develop a consolidated funding appeal. That appeal will be incorporated into the larger West African Consolidated Appeal, covering Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, which is due to be launched on 15 November. The ZAR is home to at least 100,000 refugees, mainly Liberians who fled during the Liberian war. It also hosts Sierra Leoneans who fled war in that country. Within the zone are the towns of Danane, Tabou and Guiglo, where thousands more Liberian refugees have arrived since May 2001.