UN refugee agency launches two new initiatives in West Africa

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is moving on two fronts in West Africa this week, in one case to regularize the status of newcomers from Togo in Ghana, and in the other to encourage long-term Liberian refugees in Guinea to return to their recently stabilized homeland.

In Ghana tomorrow, UNHCR along with its government partners plans to start a six-week verification exercise to confirm the presence of some 12,500 Togolese refugees and facilitate the determination of their status by the authorities.

The Togolese started fleeing to Ghana and Benin in late April last year during a violent political crisis. The verification exercise will ensure that they receive the required documentation and make certain that resources and services, provided by UNHCR and its partners, reach the intended recipients.

The process, a complex logistical challenge taking place at 87 food distribution points in the Volta region spread over 400 kilometres, is expected to identify the most vulnerable so as to sharpen targeted aid.

Meanwhile in Guinea, starting tomorrow, UNHCR is beginning a week-long information campaign promoting voluntary return to Liberia aimed at some 3,000 refugees who have been living in Conakry, the capital, for many years.

Since the election last November of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as president, the political and social situation has continued to improve in Liberia and the campaign – the first of its kind in Conakry – hopes to inform the refugee community of these positive changes and encourage their return.

Until now, the information campaign promoting return had taken place only in the refugee camps, where the majority of Liberian refugees, some 44,000, live.

Since the start of UNHCR's voluntary repatriation in October 2004, some 28,000 Liberians have returned from Guinea with agency aid. In 2006, UNHCR expects 35,000 refugees to return to Liberia from Guinea. Currently, there still some 175,000 Liberian refugees scattered throughout West Africa. The main asylum countries are Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.