02/01/2005

In December 2004, Refugees International traveled to the border of Liberia and Côte D'Ivoire where they learned that 6,000 refugees had received no food for six weeks. Because of RI's advocacy, food was delivered within a month.

In December 2004, Refugees International sent a team to the border of Liberia and Côte D'Ivoire to talk to Ivoirian refugees who had fled from the violence of Côte D'Ivoire's ongoing civil war. They were surprised to learn that no food had been distributed by UN agencies to the influx of refugees in the area. (See
RI's December 20 bulletin: Ivoirian Refugees Left for 6 Weeks Without Food.)

Most refugees were relying on local Liberians to help them survive. However, many of the Liberians had only recently returned home after being displaced by conflict within Liberia. "We help these people because they are our brothers. We know them and have done business with them," declared the mayor of Butuo. "But our people are suffering too. Many of us just returned to Nimba county. We do not have enough food."

A nurse who traveled with RI to the region stated that the signs of malnutrition were obvious among the refugee population; pregnant women appeared anemic and weak, nursing mothers were very thin and the young children were exhibiting signs of malnutrition. Despite fear of harassment and possible abduction by hostile troops in Côte D'Ivoire, many desperate refugees were risking drowning to find food by crossing back over the river that separates the two countries.

The RI team was understandably concerned and immediately contacted officials at the World Food Program (WFP) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Liberia and Washington, DC.

The UNHCR representative in Monrovia justified the problem by stating that conditions in the border regions of Côte D'Ivoire were calm. He accused the refugees of coming into Liberia just to get food. Since no food has been distributed, this seemed an odd justification for their presence on Liberian soil. He also noted that everything was in place for WFP to begin food distribution and that in his view, the food distribution to Ivoirian refugees should be imminent.

The WFP representative, however, outlined four conditions necessary before the WFP would distribute food to this group. For example, refugees had to be further from the border so distributions wouldn't attract more Ivoirians, and all recipients had to be verified as Ivoirian citizens. Further, he echoed the UNHCR analysis that the Ivoirian side of the border was safe for return.

RI was struck by the lack of initiative and concern shown by the UNHCR and WFP representatives when faced with direct testimony of a population in need. By not feeding the refugees, UNHCR and WFP were forcing them back across the border in search of food and putting them in danger. RI alerted the media and Washington Post columnist Nora Boustany mentioned the dire situation in one of her columns. "Let's give these people some comfort for Christmas," she quoted RI advocate Fidele Lumeya as saying.

RI also contacted the WFP and UNHCR offices in the United States and other key government officials. They showed concern and responded rapidly to ensure that the refugee population in the area received the badly needed food.

By the end of January, the US State Department informed RI that food shipments had been delivered to the refugee population. They also said that they would continue to follow up with the related agencies to verify that refugees are not left without food in the future. RI will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that this is the case.