Refugees International: Articles: Release: UN Agencies Leaving Thousands of Ivoirian Refugees in Liberia Without Food

Home About Us Donate Where We Work Issues Blog

Release: UN Agencies Leaving Thousands of Ivoirian Refugees in Liberia Without Food

12/20/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2004
CONTACT: Megan Fowler, 202-828-0110 x214

UN Agencies Leaving Thousands of Ivoirian Refugees in Liberia Without Food
Refugees International Calls on United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the World Food Program to Feed Refugees Fleeing Civil War

Washington, DC -- Refugees International (RI) today called on the Office of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP) to immediately organize a distribution of food to thousands of Ivoirian refugees in Liberia. RI advocates Sarah Martin and Fidele Lumeya recently traveled to eastern Liberia along the Ivoirian border and were stunned to see that thousands of people fleeing the civil war in C�te D'Ivoire had been abandoned by the UN agencies and had not received any food in six weeks.

"We are shocked and saddened that agency representatives in Liberia have shown such little concern for this population," Lumeya said. "We are calling on the UN agencies to immediately distribute food to these Ivoirian refugees and save them from starvation. Let's give these people some comfort for Christmas."

The UN has already determined that host communities in Liberia do not have the resources to feed the influx of refugees coming across the border. Now, the signs of the agencies' inattention are clear. A nurse from an international NGO who traveled with RI stated that the signs of malnutrition were obvious among the refugee population. Pregnant women appeared anemic and weak, nursing mothers were very thin and young children were exhibiting signs of malnutrition.

In an interview with RI, the UNHCR representative in Monrovia justified the slow registration of Ivoirian refugees by stating that conditions in the border regions of Cote d'Ivoire were calm - a sentiment echoed by the WFP staffer. He accused the refugees of coming into Liberia just to get food. Since no food has been distributed, this seems an odd justification for their presence on Liberian soil. Further, refugees were reporting that they had seen government forces moving tanks to the front lines and that they were escaping soldiers who had persecuted them in the past.

"We came to Liberia to be safe," a representative for a group of about 200 refugees living in a transit shelter site in western Liberia told RI. "We know from past experience that they have abducted our young girls when they come through," said one mother, "I do not want that to happen to my daughters."

"By not providing food for these people, the UN agency representatives are neglecting their duties," Martin said. "UNHCR and WFP have sufficient staff and resources and a clear mandate to help these people. Instead, they are forcing refugees to go back across the border in search of food - a journey that only returns them to harm's way."

To read more of Sarah Martin and Fidele Lumeya's findings on the situation of Ivoirian refugees in Liberia, please click here.

###

Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world, and works to end the conditions that create displacement.