Period covered by this Ops Update: 20 January to 18 April, 2011.
Appeal target (current): CHF 3,977,698;
Appeal coverage: 25%
Appeal history:
• An information bulletin was issued on 22 December, 2010.
• This Emergency Appeal was initially launched on a preliminary basis on 23 December, 2010 for CHF 1,350,184 for 6 months to assist some 45,000 beneficiaries. The Liberian Red Cross volunteers distributing urgently needed
• The International Federation of materials to refugees. IFRC/LBRS Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) allocated CHF 200,000 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support this operation.
• Operations Update no. 1 covering the period 24 December 2010 to 03 January 2011 was issued and communicated about the regional coordination mechanism.
• Operations Update no. 2 covering the period 04 to 12 January 2011 highlighted the relief activities carried out in Liberia.
• The Emergency Appeal was revised to address the drastic increase in numbers of refugees and internally displaced and budget increased to the current value of CHF 3,977,698.
Summary: The Côte d’Ivoire political crisis, which started after the announcement of the results of the November 2010 presidential elections, reached its climax on 11 April 2011 with the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo after fierce and violent clashes in the commercial capital, Abidjan. The new president has urged for calm and promised to reunite the country as he pledged to set up a truth and reconciliation commission. The crisis has led to serious humanitarian needs in the country as well as in neighbouring countries, especially in Liberia. Hundreds of thousands of persons are internally displaced and others are seeking refuge in neighbouring countries while many lives have been lost.
The Red Cross has joined other humanitarian organisations in providing assistance to those affected by the crisis both in Côte d’Ivoire and outside. The IFRC has been supporting the National Societies of the affected countries in providing relief assistance to the most affected population as well as host communities. The Red Cross is assisting in the areas of water and sanitation, health and care, shelter, livelihoods, first aid, non-food relief items as well as psycho-social support. Red Cross activities in Côte d’Ivoire are now scaling up as the security situation in the country is slowly improving, while activities in the neighbouring countries are also ongoing as the number refugees continues to increase, especially in Liberia. With availability of funding, the IFRC hopes to further support the National Societies concerned in scaling up their assistance to the refugees and their hosts. The IFRC continues to support the National Societies in coordination within the Movement and with other organisations outside the Movement.