Liberia: Opening port key for humanitarian aid

(New York: 14 August 2003) - In a ceremony today in Monrovia, Liberians United for Reconcilaitaion and Democracy (LURD) rebels handed over control of Monrovia's port to peacekeepers from The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Monrovia was relatively calm today after yesterday' s looting in the port area. The extent of yesterday's looting of World Food Programme (WFP) warehouses in the port area is unclear, as humanitarian workers have not yet completed their assessments.

Before departing the region yesterday, Carolyn McAskie, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, stressed the importance of secure access to the port. "If the port is opened and we can get access, we are fairly confident that we can start food distribution within a couple of days. We have UNICEF, WHO and the WFP bringing in medical supplies as well as food within the next 48 hours", she said.

As part of continuing efforts to increase the amount of aid getting into Liberia, UN humanitarian agencies continued to fly staff and supplies into the country today. WFP and UNICEF staff arrived at Roberts Airport this morning and WFP plans to fly in a cargo plane full of high protein biscuits later today.

The UNICEF Regional Director for West Africa, Dr. Rima Salah who is currently in Monrovia, has called for better protection of Liberian children and women. UNICEF is also planning to send immediately into Liberia a team of experts on Disarmament Demobilisation and Re-integration (DDR). UNICEF, together with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia plan to develop a strategy to rapidly demobilize the numerous child soldiers on both sides of the belligerent forces.

As reports of humanitarian conditions outside Monrovia continue to come in, it becomes clear that needs in much of Liberia will be great. An assessment team from the NGO OXFAM reports that reported that in Salala in Liberia's Bong County, people were dieing daily from hunger, saying rice and other food commodities were extremely scarce. The agency's water and sanitation director for Liberia reported that people were living on wild roots and leaves. The humanitarian situation is reported to be especially difficult for over 25,000 IDPs, a large number of whom fled recent fighting in Gbarnga.