UN refugee agency aids those fleeing to Benin from post-election violence in Togo

The United Nations refugee agency said today nearly 4,000 Togolese fleeing post-election violence since Tuesday have arrived in neighbouring Benin, and the agency is sending in an emergency team of protection and community services staff members and trucking in supplies from Ghana.

“The situation is still volatile in Togo and refugees are fleeing general insecurity, mainly into Benin. But many of them are telling us they want to stay close to the border to see if the situation settles down and they can return," said David Lambo, the Africa bureau director for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

More than 3,623 refugees, mainly women and children, have arrived in Benin, 2,000 of them overnight, UNHCR said. Some 500 were taken to Come camp, 80 kilometres away from the capital Cotonou. Refugees who went to Athieme in the south of Benin often preferred to join relatives or settle elsewhere.

The agency was sending $500,000 from its operational reserve to cover expenses. The first three-member team was scheduled to arrive over the weekend and another team was on stand-by, it said.

Only about 450 refugees had arrived in Ghana, but small numbers were also arriving in the Dzodze district and the Keta and Akatsi areas and a UNHCR mission was on its way to assess needs, it said.

At its regional warehouse in Ghana’s capital, Accra, UNHCR was also loading four 10-ton trucks with non-food items for 5,000 people and would send the convoy on a three-day, 1,600-kilometre trip through neighbouring Burkina Faso to Benin.