Relief agencies resume helping displaced people

The two-day-old ceasefire between the government and rebels in Liberia appeared to be holding on Thursday, as relief agencies resumed the distribution of aid to thousands of displaced people in Monrovia and sent out exploratory missions to the interior of the war-torn West African country. In the Ghanaian capital, Accra, peace talks continued with meetings of the political and military committees, diplomats attending the talks told IRIN. But a meeting of the political committee was adjourned to Friday after the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), demanded that only the government and rebels attend. Political party delegates insisted they should be present, prompting an adjournment to resolve the matter, diplomats told IRIN. Sources at the peace conference in Accra and in the Liberian capital Monrovia told IRIN by telephone that the ceasefire appeared to be holding on Thursday after both LURD and another rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), accused government forces of continuing to attack their positions across the country on Wednesday. A ceasefire verification team was to leave Accra for Liberia on Saturday, ahead of monitoring and humanitarian assessment teams, early next week. The sources said team members from Ghana, Mali, Niger and Nigeria had already assembled and were awaiting others from Benin, Togo, the UN and the United States. They are due to establish the positions on the ground occupied by the combatants at the time the ceasefire came into effect. In Monrovia, relief workers said they hoped that most of the 100,000 displaced people, who fled fighting near their camps two weeks ago, would move back. The sources said aid agencies were planning to resume activities in these camps on the western outskirts of the capital. They were also planning to send personnel back to several camps in the interior, in particular Totota, 140 km northeast of Monrovia, Kakata, about 50 km northeast of the capital and Buchanan, a port city 120 km to the southeast. Despite reports of clashes on Wednesday between the government forces and LURD rebels around Klay and Sasstown, 30 km northwest of Monrovia and sightings of a large number of government troops heading in that direction, Monrovia remained calm, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)said. But major stores and businesses remained closed and prices for consumer items and foodstuffs were 60 percent higher, it added. At a displaced persons' centre in Paynesville, the Red Cross was distributing 100 MT of food to 14,000 displaced people. The handouts included bulgur wheat, pulses, vegetable oil and salt, provided by the World Food programme. Save The Children Fund (SCF) said it was planning to provide a 24-hour back up service for Monrovia's over-stretched hospitals to cater for 3,500 displaced people. It was aiming to make available nurses and medicines to deal with maternal and child health, reproductive health and immunisations for children under five. SCF said it was looking after 102 unaccompanied children and was circulating family tracing lists at key points throughout Monrovia. World Vision was meanwhile due to resume food distributions to 9,000 displaced people in the western Kru Town suburb where intense fighting between LURD and the government occurred last week. "The World Vision regional vice president for Africa, Professor Wilfred Mlay has declared a Category II emergency in Liberia, in response to the growing humanitarian crisis in Monrovia," the organisation said. Fighting intensified around Monrovia shortly after the Ghana peace talks were opened on 4 June. Health Minister Peter Coleman said over 300 people were killed as LURD forces pushed to within five km of the city centre in a bid to oust President Charles Taylor. An IRIN correspondent counted 113 bodies lying in one main avenue after the five-day battle. However, LURD subsequently withdrew from Monrovia, allowing the peace talks in Accra to continue and paving way for the ceasefire agreement.