Recognise country’s needs, NGOs urge international community

International non-governmental organisations (INGOs) have called on the international community “to recognise that there is an ongoing crisis in Liberia and the need for continued support to INGOs in emergency, reconstruction, and development activities”. The “downturn in humanitarian aid for development and reconstruction in Liberia is having a serious and negative impact on the most vulnerable elements of the county’s population,” said the 17 INGOs, which included Action Contre La Faim (ACF), Action Aid, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and American Refugee Counsel (ARC). A recent upsurge of fighting between pro- and anti-government forces in the northern Liberian county of Lofa “has demanded a new emergency response”, according to the statement, also signed by Children’s Aid Direct (CAD), Concern, Handicap International, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Lutheran World Federation/World Service (LWF/WS) and Merlin. The other signatories of the document, dated 30 August and titled ‘Situational Report of INGO’s Operative in Liberia’ were Movimiento por la Paz el Desarme y la Libertad (MPDL), Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-Belgium, Oxfam, Save the Children’s Fund (SCF/UK), United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Veterinaires Sans Frontieres (VSF) and World Vision (WV). The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) registered since March 2001 amounts to 35,137, while another 12,000 Liberians were registered by UNHCR in eastern Sierra Leone and 4,563 in Cote d’Ivoire, the INGOs said. They added that IDPs were continuing to move through Gbarpolu County, immediately south of Lofa. According to the statement, donor support to INGOs in Liberia has greatly reduced since January 2000. “This has directly affected the support INGOs provide to the vulnerable people of Liberia,” they said. “INGOs are scaling down their reconstruction and development programmes due to funding constraints.” The INGOs said that “in the immediate term the non-food needs of the IDPs are largely being met” but that “the majority of intervening agencies will not have sufficient resources to maintain current programming in either reconstruction/development or emergency response beyond December 31st 2001”. They therefore called on international donors “to reassess their respective positions with regard to humanitarian assistance in Liberia, both in development and emergency response”. “Human suffering is on the increase,” they said.