Refugee repatriation to Liberia jumps sharply, UN refugee agency says
Citing improved security after years of civil war, more than 5,000 Liberian refugees have returned home from Côte d’Ivoire in the past four weeks, a big jump from the total of 700 who returned in the first five months of the year, the United Nations refugee agency said today.
Citing improved security after years of civil war, more than 5,000 Liberian refugees have returned home from Côte d’Ivoire in the past four weeks, a big jump from the total of 700 who returned in the first five months of the year, the United Nations refugee agency said today.
The returnees, who have gone mainly to eastern Maryland and Nimba counties, told staff members from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that security conditions had improved in Liberia and deteriorated somewhat in western Côte d’Ivoire, where some had lived for over a decade during the 14-year Liberian civil conflict.
UNHCR has repatriated 28,000 Liberians from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone since it launched the voluntary repatriation programme last October.
Some 6,500 Liberian refugees were allowed to emigrate to the United States from 2003, but the programme is being closed down, UNHCR said.
About 470,000 Liberian refugees remain in Côte d’Ivoire, mainly in the west, it said.