Liberian refugees continue to arrive in Tabou

At least 2,000 Liberian refugees fleeing war-ravaged southeastern Maryland County arrived in Cote d'Ivoire's border town of Tabou over the weekend, exerting more strain on the town's already poor social infrastructure, aid workers said on Tuesday. In the past two weeks, aid workers who returned from a mission to Tabou said, at least 15,000 people had crossed from Liberia to Cote d'Ivoire. Most of them were Liberians who had been displaced in the past. There were however also Ivorians and other West African nationals who had fled to Liberia at the height of the Ivorian crisis. The mission included Cote d'Ivoire national refugee agency, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme, Oxfam and the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Shelter, food, health and portable water were the most pressing needs in Tabou, they said. "While some refugees had found shelter with local residents, some 2,500 had sought refugee in a UNHCR centre meant for 700 people," OCHA said. "The Catholic Mission had welcomed more 1,200 with its compound." UN humanitarian agencies, national and international NGOs were trying to assist the refugee. However Tabou receives about an hour of electricity and potable water per day, making it difficult to cater for the needs of the refugees. The approaching rainy season and some animosity towards Liberian refugees amongst local communities made matters worse, the aid workers said. The frightened refugees, UNHCR said, were mainly arriving through the Yeoli and Nero entry points, bringing stories of heavy fighting between Liberian government and rebel forces battling to control the region despite the torrential rainy season downpours hampering travel in the area. "This is the third time I have been a refugee here in the last ten years," a 72-year-old d refugee, Moses Greenfield, told on two-day mission. UNHCR, which has maintained an office in Tabou since 1989 was working to identify more villages willing to accept the fleeing Liberians. Its staff met Ivorian village chiefs and provided assistance to communities willing to host the refugees. "We're in a race against the weather and the poor health condition of the new arrivals," Panos Moumtzis, UNHCR's acting representative in Abidjan said. "We're very worried about the children should diarrhoeal outbreaks become widespread." The International Office for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday that it would organise a six-bus convoy later this week to take 400 Burkinabe refugees to Burkina Faso through Ghana. Some 1,456 West Africa nationals among the displaced in Tabou, including Malians, Nigerians, Senegalese had registered for voluntary repatriation with IOM. Aid workers said recent deployment of peacekeepers into the volatile western Cote d'Ivoire, had enabled them to resume minimal activities in the area. In recent weeks, they had multiplied on-site visits to the area to assess ways to assist the displaced. These included people affected by fighting both in Liberia and in Cote d'Ivoire where an eight-month civil war followed a failed coup attempt on 19 September. The UN Children's agency (UNICEF) over the weekend sent a large quantity of aid to 200,000 people in the western towns of Daloa, Guiglo and 300,000 people in Man. These included 2,000 impregnated mosquito nets, soap and packs of high-protein biscuits for vulnerable children and women.