Liberia: UN agencies expand assistance
(New York: 19 August 2003) - The
situation in Monrovia continues to improve, though great needs created
by months of conflict remain. UN humanitarian agencies are steadily
increasing the numbers of their staff and quantities of relief supplies
in Liberia, and are assessing whether areas outside Monrovia are now safe
enough to conduct humanitarian work.
In Monrovia, the World Food Programme
is continuing to distribute the 4,300 metric tonnes of food that remained
in its warehouses after looting last week. WFP is targeting its distributions
to roughly 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) staying at some
110 spontaneous settlements around Monrovia. The United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repatriated more than 200 refugees
to Sierra Leone over the past few days. UNHCR received a shipment of enough
blankets, shelter materials and kitchen sets for 7,000 people. The
refugee agency has also received a shipment of 4,000 litres of fuel, which
has been in critically short supply. Humanitarian agencies are hopeful
that electricity and water supplies may be restored to parts of the capital
by the end of the week.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) delivered shelter materials, high-energy biscuits and recreational items to a shelter for 450 orphans in Monrovia today. UNICEF is also working with an NGO implementing partner, Merlin, to have basic medicines distributed within Monrovia and at least two sites outside Monrovia. UNICEF has also provided the Liberian National Health Service with some 500 gallons of fuel with which to power generators crucial for the preservation of vaccines.
An inter-agency assessment team, whose members include representatives of UNICEF, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UN Office of the Security Coordinator (UNSECOORD), went to the Po-Waterside area to determine whether it would be possible to open a humanitarian corridor into Liberia from Sierra Leone. Similar assessments are planned for the towns of Gbarnga and Tubmanburg later this week as UN humanitarian agencies try to expand their operations into to areas that have been too unsafe for aid deliveries.
For further information, please contact
NEW YORK: Brian Grogan 212 963-1143
GENEVA: Elizabeth Byrs 41 22 917 2652