Relief operations to resume throughout southeastern Liberia

The United Nations will resume full-scale relief efforts in rebel-controlled areas of southern and eastern Liberia after the country's new Transitional Government is sworn in on 14 October, Moses Okello, the head of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Liberia said on Thursday. He said the decision had been taken following a visit to the port town of Harper near the Ivorian border by a UN-led team of 15 aid workers between 12-16 September. They travelled to Harper by ship from the capital, Monrovia. Okello told reporters that in the light of the mission's findings, relief workers planned to extend their operations from Harper to four counties controlled by the rebel Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) along the border with Cote d'Ivoire - Maryland, River Gee, Grand Gedeh and Nimba. "This country is in a delicate situation," Okello said. "We are working with MODEL as we move towards the installation of a transitional government where we hope to have one unified authority." Okello said: "This will enable us to assist Ivorian refugees, Liberian returnees and other third country nationals who fled the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire to that part of Liberia, and the local communities that acquire assistance too." The transitional government, led by businessman Gyude Bryant, is due to replace the rump of Charles Taylor's administration, now headed by Moses Blah. Blah took over as head of state when Taylor was forced by international pressure to resign and leave the country on 11 August. Bryant will head a broad-based government that will steer Liberia towards fresh elections in 2005. He was appointed by delegates to peace talks in Ghana last month. The talks culminated in the signing of a peace agreement on 18 August between the government, MODEL and a second rebel group - Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD.) UNHCR senior emergency coordinator Jo Hagenauer, who formed part of the UN assessment mission to Harper, quoted MODEL fighters as saying there were only about 3,000 people left in the town, which was formerly a busy port for the export of timber. "Other towns and villages we visited like Pleebo, Weebo, Fish Town had about 1,000 Ivorian refugees, 430 third country nationals and 8,000 Liberian returnees from Ivory Coast," Hagenauer said. "We found out that 7,800 internally displaced persons were living in those towns," he added. The team reported that all the health centres and schools in Maryland had been extensively looted. However there were no reports of malnutrition or serious outbreaks of disease and locally produced food was available in the areas visited. Before UNHCR withdrew from Harper in March as fighting approached the town, it had been caring for 38,000 Ivorian refugees, 45,000 Liberian returnees and 15,000 nationals of other West African countries in the surrounding district. Many of these people fled to Cote d'Ivoire after MODEL captured the town in May. There are now about 30,000 refugees from Liberia living in and around the Ivorian border town of Tabou. Since the peace agreement was signed, relief agencies have been probing cautiously into many rebel-held areas to assess humanitarian needs. They are currently negotiating with LURD to visit Gbarnga and Ganta in north-central Liberia. These towns were strongholds of Taylor's forces until they were overun by rebel forces in July. On Wednesday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) began distributing feed to 32,000 vulnerable people in the port city of Buchanan, 120 km southeast of Monrovia. It has been under MODEL control since 28 July and relief workers say the security situation is still tense.