Photo Credit: Refugees International/ Sally Chin
06/10/2005

The UNHCR barge to transport Liberians across the Cavally River at Prollo village into Maryland county is up and running. Because of the short distance across the river there is a high level of daily village traffic back and forth.

UNHCR has supported the return of several hundred Liberians to Monrovia and the convoy lists for June have been full. UNHCR in Cote d'Ivoire is trying to accelerate returns, scheduling two convoys a week. Unfortunately, due to coordination problems with UNHCR in Liberia, the convoys have been limited to 100 people per convoy as opposed to the expected 250. This has caused restlessness and misunderstandings on the part of those Liberians who have signed up for repatriation but are being forced to wait. When RI visited, Liberians in Prollo expressed their frustration at being bumped off a convoy list, and being forced to wait another month.

The Liberians we spoke to were also a mine of misinformation regarding the repatriation process. Many were excited about voting in the October elections, and were unaware that it was too late for them to register. Others expected to be transported right to their former homes. All of them understood their $5 secondary transportation allowance to be a repatriation allowance, and felt it was unfair in comparison to the $300 received by ex-combatants.