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Liberia + 3 more

UNHCR briefing notes: Liberia, Sudan, Uganda, Chad

This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR website, www.unhcr.ch, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.
1) LIBERIA

Lack of security, law and order in many parts of Liberia is still hampering humanitarian operations in the country. Despite these constraints, UNHCR and its partners continue to work where we can. Following last week's huge displacement along the Totota / Salala road, northeast of Monrovia, some of the relief materials sent by UNHCR trucks in a joint operation on Thursday were distributed Friday by NGO Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Plastic sheeting, high-protein biscuits and water were given to the most needy in Salala 1 camp, where thousands of displaced had taken shelter, as well as along the road leading to the site. Salala 1, previously home to 30,000 people, is now estimated to house over 80,000. Two other NGOs erected additional blocks of latrines in the camp and work has also started at the Salala 2 camp, run by the ICRC across the road.

The exodus continued on Friday, through the weekend and even into yesterday, when a joint UNHCR, OCHA, WFP mission visited the Totota/Salala and Kakata region. They once again came across hundreds of people moving on the road southwards, leaving the town of Todee towards Kakata. Many of the frightened people were believed fleeing because of continuing rumours of fighting, looting or harassment. They try to carry what they can, knowing that anything left behind may be looted. ECOMIL's Guinea Bissau troops started deploying yesterday towards the Totota/ Salala and Kakata region, but will need another few days to reach full deployment. We hope that the displacement can be curtailed as soon as possible and the harassment stopped.

In Buchanan, the port city southeast of Monrovia, security is reported to be seriously deteriorating. So far, no agencies have been able to do any large-scale food or non-food distribution. The population is in desperate need of assistance, but the presence of armed groups, looting and harassing residents, prevents the possibility of any distribution at this stage. The deployment of ECOMIL or peacekeeping troops is urgently needed if we want to stop the already dire humanitarian situation from deteriorating further. UNHCR participated in an interagency mission to the area on Friday. We found that another displaced camp, Brumskine, which had housed more than 3,000 people, had emptied as a result of rebel attacks and looting.

UNHCR is also actively seeking ways to gain access to Ivorian refugees in the east of Liberia. Discussions have been held with MODEL (Movement for Democracy in Liberia) representatives, who have shown a willingness to assist us in providing this access. Options to gain access to the east could include cross-border operations from Côte d'Ivoire, or by boat from Monrovia to Harper. Our office in Tabou, Côte d'Ivoire, has received credible reports from local colleagues who crossed into Harper, that the town has been severely looted. There are also worrying reports of various kinds of harassment and sexual violence. Before the most recent fighting, UNHCR was taking care of over 38,000 Ivorian refugees who fled the war in Côte d'Ivoire.

In Monrovia, meanwhile, we are working with other agencies to facilitate this week's transfer of up to 30,000 displaced persons dispersed in 56 schools and clinics in the town centre, to camps outside the capital, where they will be able to receive regular assistance. We are providing trucks for their transportation and will do the monitoring, passenger lists and look after protection issues. Information campaigns are ongoing to inform the population of the need to empty the schools and clinics - which are obviously needed for other purposes - and return to the camps. UNHCR and its partners will ensure that all services in the respective camps are in place to ensure an appropriate reception. We are also making sure that ECOMIL will extend the security zone as far as the most northern camps -- Seigbeh and Ricks -- and that military checkpoints are created in these areas to facilitate the return, which should be well advanced by the end of the week.

So far, UNHCR has provided relief material to 10,000 people in two of the eight IDP camps around the capital. On Monday, UNHCR delivered blankets, jerry cans, kitchen sets and mats for 613 families (about 3,000 people) living in Seigbeh displaced camp in the Montserrado area, north of Monrovia. These people had already received shelter material from the ICRC. The UNHCR-chartered MV Overbeck arrived from Freetown last week with more relief material for 3,000 persons.

2) SUDANESE REFUGEES IN UGANDA

The transfer of some 16,000 Sudanese refugees from the over-crowded Kiryandongo camp in Uganda's Masindi district was completed this morning with the departure of the last convoy carrying an estimated 1,500 refugees. The government-run operation was started on September 1 and had earlier been slated for completion by the end of this week.

More than 11,000 refugees are now at an improvised reception centre in Ikafe, a camp still under construction, while another 6,000 to 7,000 are in Madi Okollo, a former camp that has been rehabilitated for the settlement of the relocated group. Both sites are in Uganda's northern Arua district.

The exact number of refugees transferred from Kiryandongo during this operation remains unknown as registration was not carried out before boarding. UNHCR is now registering refugees in the new locations. We have deployed additional staff from various offices in Uganda to assist with the registration and settlement of the refugees at both sites. Plot demarcation is continuing ahead of land allocation to refugee families. The World Food Programme has distributed high-protein biscuits to children and other vulnerable refugees. While water technicians finalise the installation of distribution systems in the camp, we are trucking water from the nearby town of Arua to both sites.

In Kiryandongo, UNHCR is looking at possibilities of providing legal representation for 25 refugees who were arrested last week in connection with violent clashes between Ugandan security forces and Sudanese refugee youths at the start of the relocation exercise on Sept. 1. The refugees have already been charged with various offenses, including disobedience of lawful order, malicious damage to property and carrying arms in public. Twenty-one of the refugees have already appeared before the local magistrate in Kiryandongo. Three minors who were also arrested in the police roundup have been released to their families. It is expected that charges against them will be dropped.

The refugees who have been transferred to the north are part of a group of 24,000 Sudanese refugees who were displaced from Achol-Pii camp in Kitgum district, following a series of vicious attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in August 2002. The first group of 8,000 was transferred to another camp within weeks of their arrival in Kiryandongo, which had no room for expansion to accommodate the refugees from Achol-Pii.

3) SUDANESE REFUGEES IN CHAD

A second mission consisting of Chadian government officials, UN agency and NGO representatives is set to fly out from the Chadian capital, N'djamena, to eastern Chad tomorrow (Sept. 10) to carry out a rapid assessment of needs of more than 65,000 Sudanese refugees who have arrived in the towns of Abeche and Farachallah, both in the east of the country, and surrounding areas. The refugees, who began arriving in small numbers in April this year, have fled fighting between Khartoum government forces and Sudan's Liberation Movement (SLM) in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Tens of thousands of refugees of them arrived in the last few weeks. The government of Chad only recently alerted UNHCR to the presence of the refugees.

The plane to be used in tomorrow's mission is an in-kind donation from the French government in support of the efforts being made by the humanitarian community to respond rapidly to the pressing needs of the refugees. We are in the process of sending an initial consignment of basic domestic supplies, or non-food items, for 40,000 refugees from our regional stockpile in Ngara, Tanzania. We expect to have a more comprehensive picture of the needs upon the return of tomorrow's mission, which is expected back in N'djamena on Thursday.

The first government/UN mission that went to eastern Chad last week confirmed the presence of more than 65,000 Sudanese refugees. They were living out in the open with no food, safe drinking water or health care. Many had no shelter, blankets or plastic sheeting to protect them from the desert weather that ranges from blazing heat during the daytime to chilly temperatures at night. Some children had reportedly died of malaria, diarrhea and starvation. Some local people have given the refugees food but last week's mission found that the capacity of the local population had been outstripped by the large numbers.