IOM set to evacuate over 700 by sea

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday it had chartered a vessel to evacuate over 700 people from several West African countries who had trapped by fighting in southeastern Liberia. The IOM, which helps to transport refugees back to their own countries, said in a statement it had chartered the MV Sandra, which can carry up to 350 people, to evacuate these people from the port of Harper, near the Liberian frontier with Cote d'Ivoire. The ship was due to make its first three-day journey to Takoradi in western Ghana in mid-May, it added. The IOM said 722 people from several West African countries who were currently living in southeastern Liberia had expressed a desire to return home. These were all foreigners who had been previously living in neighbouring countries before fleeing to Liberia where they became caught up in the country's civil war. They are technically known as Third Country Nationals. The IOM said several hundred of these had already escaped on fishing boats to Ghana. Those seeking evacuation from Harper by the IOM are mainly nationals of Burkina Faso,Guinea, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. Many of them are children. The organisation said it was ready to register more foreigners employed on rubber plantations in southeastern Liberia who wished to leave.