Refugees International will travel to Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Cote d’Ivoire in June and early July. The three main objectives of the mission are: (1) to evaluate the UNAMSIL intervention in Sierra Leone to better understand why the mission has succeeded and to analyze the implications of those success factors for other missions; (2) to identify the humanitarian assistance and protection needs of the Liberian refugees; and (3) to monitor the return and reintegration process for Sierra Leoneans.

The team will first travel to Sierra Leone to analyze the peacekeeping mission by interviewing officials in Freetown and at UNAMSIL headquarters, and by visiting some of the battalions in central and eastern Sierra Leone. The team will also investigate the conditions for the recently arrived Liberian refugees in southeastern Sierra Leone. In addition, the team will follow-up on its previous investigation into the return process for Sierra Leoneans. RI will then travel to Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire to investigate conditions for Liberian refugees in those locations. Finally, the team will travel to London to discuss UNAMSIL with British officials. The British military played a major role in stabilizing the situation in Sierra Leone after initial embarrassing setbacks for the UN peacekeeping mission when it was first deployed.