Annan urges Mano river leaders to end conflict

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to hold a summit as a confidence-building measure toward achieving peace in and between their nations. His appeal was contained in a 23 May report on refugees and internally displaced people in the three countries which, he said, have one million war victims, including refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). The presence of the refugees, he said, had placed “a heavy burden” on host communities and countries. “It is, therefore, important that the needs of refugees, internally displaced persons and the host states and host communities be addressed adequately,” he said. “I also call on the international community to provide all necessary assistance to the Mano River Union countries, in particular Guinea,” which has the largest number of refugees. [The three countries make up the Mano River Union, an all but defunct integration structure.] Annan said the UN would study ways to improve its capacity to coordinate and deliver humanitarian aid to the needy, while governments in the region and UN agencies must continue to protect refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). “I also call on the international community to make the necessary resources available to support the efforts of UNHCR, other United Nations agencies and programmes and non-governmental organisations,” he said. Efforts to protect, relocate and return refugees and IDPs to their homes would fail, “if equal attention is not paid to the needs of those who stayed behind, to receiving communities and the larger reconstruction and development needs of the West African subregion,” Annan said. In this context, he noted that contributions received for the UN consolidated appeal for West Africa amounted to 8 percent. “Similarly, only 25 percent of the funds required under the consolidated appeal for Sierra Leone have been forthcoming.”