Refugees International mission

Two field workers from Refugees International in Washington DC have started a month-long mission to Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to assess the needs of internally displaced Liberians and those who have sought refuge in the neighbouring countries, the NGO told IRIN on Friday. Recent fighting in Liberia’s Lofa County has displaced tens of thousands of people and caused others to flee the country. The RI workers, Michelle Brown and Sayre Nyce, will also determine the needs of another 200,000 refugees who have remained in Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire since the onset of the Liberian civil war in 1989. Brown and Nyce, who arrived in Cote d’Ivoire on 2 June, concluded their work on Friday. They met national and international officials in Abidjan as well as representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Danane, a western town that hosts a large refugee population. The field workers are due to leave for Guinea, the second leg of their mission, on Saturday. Their findings will be presented to the international community in Abidjan and in Washington DC at the beginning of July, RI said.