Liberia Humanitarian Situation Update No. 128

28 Nov - 5 Dec 2004
A. General Situation

Highlights

On 26 November, the National Transitional Government Chairman, Mr. Gyude Bryant on his return to the country after three nations European tour has lifted the curfew that was imposed in the nation on 29 October following riots in the city. The Chairman warned that security will remain tight despite removal of movement restrictions. The UN curfew regime of midnight to 6:00 am for UN staff members is still in operation.

In efforts to curb the sale of relief items the Liberian Justice Minister Kabineh Ja'neh issued a statement in the local newspapers announcing policy measures the NTGL will take to halt and bring to immediate end the widespread sale of donated food and non-food items in local markets. Anyone found guilty of playing a part in buying or selling these items will be arrested, detained and prosecuted in keeping with the relevant penal laws of Liberia. The statement further mentioned that a special task force had been constituted and mandated among other issues to institute routine visits and conduct inspections of market places and warehouses to ensure strict compliance with the standing government policy. The task force is comprised of Ministry of Commerce, LRRRC and Liberia National Police. Large -- scale sale of WFP food items has been evident on the market for a long time and WFP Country Office has consistently raised the issue with the Government, UNMIL, and other partners.

West African countries have waged war on violence against women. The authorities in Liberia and Sierra Leone have joined humanitarian organisations like the UN refugee agency, UNDP, the International Rescue Committee to launch 16 Days of Activism to Eliminate Violence against Women. Activities are involving men, women and youth in the refugee and local communities. UNHCR, in partnership with the International Rescue Committee and local non-governmental organisation Network Movement for Justice and Development has sensitised entire communities on the negative effects of sexual and gender-based violence by hosting awareness raising workshops for both women and men, including the Sierra Leonean police.

The activities include drop-in centres that are open 24 hours a day, staffed by volunteers who are trained counsellors on sexual and gender-based violence. Medical and legal support is also available free of charge in all eight camps in Sierra Leone. UNHCR Liberia field and sub offices are also engaged in holding of appropriate programs intended to create a solidarity movement, and serve as awareness-raising on SGBV.

In Lofa County, UNHCR's partner, the International Medical Corp (IMC), has organized a five-day training workshop on SGBV for all health workers and some of the activities will be held in Gbarnga that include an inter-faith discussion, sports and essay competition. The 16 Days is also being observed in Zwedru and Bomi. The campaign, will run until December 10, International Human Rights Day.

B. COORDINATION

The humanitarian situation

Small numbers of Ivorian refugees in Liberia have been returning home as tensions ease in Côte d'Ivoire. While the influx into Liberia has ground to a halt, the UN refugee agency and its partners continue to monitor and to provide assistance in the border areas.

No new arrivals from Côte d'Ivoire were reported over the weekend in Nimba County, north-eastern Liberia, where UNHCR and the Liberian National Red Cross Society (LNRCS) have so far registered 10,045 Ivorian refugees in and around the towns of Butuo and Gporplay. The refugees started fleeing their homes in early November, fearing renewed fighting between Ivorian government troops and rebels.

To date, the Cestos river that divides the two West African countries is no longer bustling with canoes carrying Ivorian refugees to Liberia. Instead, the population movement has been reversed, with small groups of refugees crossing back to their villages in Côte d'Ivoire.

"The situation in Côte d'Ivoire is improving and my people can come back without any fear," said Labeh Tion, an official working for the municipality of Zouan-Houinien in western Côte d'Ivoire who was in Butuo with a delegation from his municipality to inform their compatriots that the gunfire had stopped.

The UNHCR Country representative has also stated that although the situation seems to have come back to normal, UNHCR will continue to watch the situation very carefully and be prepared in the event of any inflow of refugees again from Côte d'Ivoire. They are currently working with the government to strengthen immigration presence in Nimba, Grand Gedeh and Maryland Counties.

With the support of the Liberian government, UN agencies are continuing to provide assistance along the border. One of the paramount priorities is the reconditioning of the roads to allow trucks to reach remote areas and deliver World Food Programme food and UNHCR relief items particularly blankets, soap and kitchen sets. UNHCR's implementing partner, LUSH (Liberians United to Save Humanity), has started to repair some of the bridges to make them passable in a very short period. But the lack of adequate equipment in the country makes the rehabilitation process difficult.

Flow of spontaneous Returnees into Liberia continues

Liberians continue to return spontaneously alongside the organized repatriation of Liberian refugees that started in October 2004. Many of the returnees hailed from areas yet to be declared safe for return. A significant rise in the number of persons returning to Lofa, Grand Gedeh County has been reported. UNHCR's implementing partner, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has reported a total of 10,900 Liberians returned during the month of October 2004. NRC is monitoring at borders and entry points in Lofa County.

In Lofa County, a high number of spontaneous return have been reported in Kolahun where local authorities in Kolahun indicated that many more were still coming on a daily basis from both Guinea and Sierra Leone. UNHCR is working closely with NRC to establish the number of spontaneous returnees and assess the validity of documents in their possession. This recent increase has been attributed to the go-and-see visits by Liberian refugees into mainly border areas of Liberia to assess the situation before returning permanently to their country. IDPs are also returning to their communities of origin.

There are some 70,000 Liberian refugees in Côte d'Ivoire, part of the 350,000 Liberians who fled their country's 14-year civil strife and took shelter in other African nations. In October this year, UNHCR began a massive operation for the voluntary repatriation of Liberians.

As part of this on-going programme, four flights were received from Accra, Ghana in 2 days bringing home 441 Liberians. There will be four more airlifts from Ghana in the coming weeks. In the past two months, more than 3,000 Liberians have repatriated with UNHCR assistance. So far, UNHCR has facilitated the return of 2,134 Liberian from the West African countries. Over 200 persons arrived from Ghana on 29 November 2004 as part of the on-going facilitated voluntary repatriation of Liberian refugees.

DDR Support initiatives

Although the disarmament and demobilization exercise ended, Interim Care Centers (ICCs) in Voinjama, Harper, Ganta and Zwedru still have some cases of Children Associated with Fighting Forces (CAFF) undergoing the demobilization process. WFP continues to support children in the ICCs through wet feeding. During the reporting period, WFP provided 1 Mt of various food commodities to some 154 beneficiaries (134 boys, 11 girls and 10 caregivers) in ICCs.

Promoting Sustainable Return through Reintegration Activities

Four out of the 12 schools earmarked for renovation in Maryland has been completed or nearing completion. Also, progress has been made on the 16 projects implemented by the World Vision International (WVI). The water and sanitation projects, both CEP and non-CEP within the Harper District is expected to be completed shortly. With regard to health, progress has been made on five of the seven health centers, while the remaining two is yet to be accessed due to bad road condition.

In Lofa County, Peace Winds Japan has commenced the rehabilitation of the Selega and David Selmah town elementary schools. The Kolahun High schools was also assessed and renovation will commence early 2005. Currently there are 54 CEP's being initiated in the Kolahun District in the areas of Agriculture, Training & Production Unit (skills training), Shelter and Wat/San.

In Bong County, UNHCR implementing partner LUSH has been requested to provide furniture for the primary school presently under renovation in the Gbonota, Sanoyea District. The school has seven classrooms. African Concern International (ACI) is the implementing partner for the project. ACI is carrying out sensitisation about the nature and principles of the CEP in Bong County.

Three CEP projects in Bomi County have been approved and will be implemented by Africa Concern International. The projects include community schools and halls. Regarding water and sanitation, existing wells that had been destroyed and looted will be renovated and communal latrines will be constructed along with garbage pits.

Community Based Recovery

UNDP in partnership with UNHCR and the New African Research and Development Agency (NARDA) carried out a training workshop for the 6 District Development Committees (DDCs) in Nimba and the 3 DDCs in Grand Gedeh. DDCs which are chaired by District Commissioners or District Superintendents and are comprised of chiefs, elders, women and youth representatives, the hub for mobilizing community members to participate in recovery and development activities. The DDCs were trained in the roles and functions of DDCs members, communication and trust building techniques, mobilizing communities, problem diagnosis, planning and prioritizing. Each of the DDCs prepared a 3-month workplan which UNDP and UNHCR will monitor. UNDP and UNHCR plan to establish and train DDCs in up to 10 Counties of the worst war-affected communities. In addition to the training, UNDP will provide some operational support to each of the DDCs for greater effectiveness.

Gender Mainstreaming

UNDP Liberia and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) during the reporting period has signed a letter of understanding to collaborate in ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in all UNDP programmes. The goal is to involve the Liberian women as major actors in the reconstruction of Liberia. The collaboration between the two UN-organizations will cover governance, community-based reintegration and recovery (CBR), rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-combatants, human rights, and HIV/AIDS programmes.

UN Volunteers

The UNV Support Unit in Liberia organized the celebration of the International Volunteer Day at the SOS Village, Matadi (Monrovia), on 5 December.

C. HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Food Aid

General food distribution

Distribution of general rations to IDPs for the month of November continued in various Counties. Through the WFP Monrovia Sub Office, distribution of general food rations to IDPs was completed in Conneh camp in Margibi County. In Montserrado County, food distribution was completed in Mount Barclay and still on-going in Soul Clinic and Morris Farm IDP camps. Resettlement of IDPs to areas declared safe continued during the last week, with several convoys of 177 families comprising of 696 people dispatched from Perry, Blamasee and Sawegbeh IDP camps. The convoys were organized and coordinated by IOM and UNHCR, in collaboration with WFP and LRRRC, as well as the Camp Leadership, the Camp Management Agencies and other concerned parties. WFP provided an initial two months return package to the IDPs who were resettled. Furthermore, a resettlement food package was distributed to some 497 refugees repatriated from Nigeria to Monrovia during the reporting period.

From WFP Phebe Sub office, a total of 208 Mt. was distributed to some 20,981 beneficiaries located in Salala and Tumutu camps in Bong Country. During the monitoring activities carried out in Tumutu and Salala IDP camps, some beneficiaries expressed concerns about the insufficiency of food rations WFP is currently providing due to reduced rations. In Salala, beneficiaries reported that the only source of food is through WFP food assistance and therefore requested the Agency to increase the food rations. The sub office also organized training for a Local NGO "Smile Africa" on distribution of food commodities. Smile Africa will implement food distribution to returnees being resettled in Bong Country.

In Turbmanburg, Bomi County, a total of 23 Mt. of assorted commodities was distributed as general rations to some 436 IDPs and 261 returnees.

In December 2004, WFP Liberia plans to feed some 595,768 beneficiaries including 313,420 IDPs, 5,000 Returnees and 10,045 Refugees with a total of 5,527 Mt of assorted food commodities.

Resourcing and Pipeline

New contributions continue to be needed in order for WFP Liberia to provide full rations for all programme activities in the coming months. Additional pledges and resources estimated at US$ 16.8 Million are required to prevent shortfalls of 17,313 Mt of cereals, 1,084 Mt of Pulses, 604 Mt of Veg Oil, 3,124 Mt of CSB and 33 Mt of Sugar from December 2004 through April 2005.

FAO and UNHCR partnership

UNHCR and FAO signed an agreement to implement a joint multi-year project until the end of 2005, aiming at providing basic agricultural inputs to war-affected farmers. 20,000 families will benefit from the 2 year project.

Initially 7,500 farm families, mostly war-affected and vulnerable farmers will be receiving kits of assorted vegetable seeds and basic tools during the current farming season. The distribution will be followed by a training session on farming methods to refresh their memories on agricultural techniques and the introduction of new technical knowledge for enhanced production. As the UN Agency responsible for agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries, FAO will facilitate the distribution of farm inputs to the target beneficiaries and conduct training sessions on improved farming methods.

While next year the emphasis will be on the production and processing of rice, the main staple in Liberia, as well as assisting returnees and host communities in agricultural activities through Community Empowerment projects (CEPs).

The project being referred to as 'Liberia Agriculture Reintegration Project' (LARP), will be implemented in five Counties Lofa, Bong, Nimba, Montserrado and Grand Gedeh, which are the main areas of return. Following several needs assessments in these areas it was observed that the returnee farmers are very eager to re-start farming activities in order to earn income and improve their standards of living. Subject to security situation, more Counties will be included in the subsequent phases of the programme's implementation. (The total financial contribution to the project is US$ 276,155).

The program is to increase preparedness that would facilitate the return and reintegration of those 340,000 Liberian refugees. It aims to enhance the productive capacities of war-affected households by supplying emergency agricultural inputs and training in sustainable and improved agricultural technologies.

Priorities will be given to returnees with farmland who have recently arrived and to communities in which returnees have been reintegrated and where ex-combatants have been demobilized and are willing to farm.

Transition Recovery Teams already being founded at the County level in Lofa, Nimba and Bong Counties, where additional teams will be appointed for more counties in the second phase of the project. The Teams will play an active role in coordination of agricultural activities and facilitate the process of speeding up the recovery process. FAO will provide technical and operational support to ensure that the inputs are of good quality and meet the standard specifications.

Collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture, FAO, UNHCR at counties level is crucial to ensure a successful implementation of the project.

The FAO resident Representative in Liberia, Subramaniam Thirugnanasambanthar underlined the importance of this partnership. He further added that it highlights increasing collaboration with a wide range of development partners in meeting the national and global challenges of eradicating hunger and malnutrition, in a spirit of shared responsibilities and costs.

School Feeding program

To complete delivery of food rations to schools in Montserrado and Margibi Counties for the month of November, a total of 105 Mt. was distributed to some 23,987 school children during the week. In Phebe, Bong County, a total of 103 schools received 207 Mt of food commodities for 46, 977 school children.

In addition, a total of 20,910 beneficiaries in various schools in Bomi County received food assistance during the week, through WFP Turbmarnburg sub office.

In preparation of expansion of school feeding activities to counties in the South -- East, the WFP Sub office in Zwedru commenced assessment of schools in the area to ascertain schools that meet the basic criteria for the feeding programme. Advice is also being given to those schools that do not meet the minimum requirements to improve on the required facilities such as school kitchens in order to be enrolled on the school feeding programme. The school assessment exercise is done through observation of school facilities, conducting of interviews with staff, head counts of school children in schools and verification of school records. Most schools visited so far have fairly good structures, latrines, water pumps.

The Country Office made a short video on school feeding activities in Monrovia for TPG -Netherlands (Private donor). The "Thank You Video" was intended to express WFP's appreciation for the $ 1.2 million generous contribution received from TPG for the Emergency School Feeding programme in Liberia.

Health and Nutrition/HIV/Aids interventions

Collection of data for the Bomi County Nutrition and Food Security survey started on 28 November. The exercise will continue up to 03 December .The survey will provide baseline data on health & nutrition and food security situation in the county in order to assist the planning and proper targeting of aid interventions and allow proper impact assessment in future. Various Partners in Nutrition and food security are involved including World vision, Save the Children and government counterparts.

On November 27, the organization of people living with HIV/AIDS (the Light Association) led a walkathon to raise funds for their colleagues, an activity supported by UNDP Liberia as a preamble to mark World Aids Day on 1 December.