UNITED NATIONS SEEKS $91.9 MILLION FOR EMERGENCY AND RECOVERY INITIATIVES FOR LIBERIA

23 December 1996

Press Release
IHA/614

UNITED NATIONS SEEKS $91.9 MILLION FOR EMERGENCY AND RECOVERY INITIATIVES FOR LIBERIA

19961223 GENEVA/NEW YORK, 23 December (DHA) -- The United Nations today appealed for $91.9 million for two linked initiatives addressing urgent emergency and recovery activities for Liberia. The United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Liberia for January-June 1997, coordinated by the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, is the first part of a common strategy to address the needs stemming from seven years of civil war in Liberia. While fighting continues in many areas, the prospects for peace have been reinvigorated with the signing of the latest Abuja agreement on 17 August, and the beginning of the demobilization process on 22 November. A total $31.2 million is required to continue relief activities for civilians, and to meet the initial basic needs of ex- combatants, internally displaced persons and refugees during the initial reintegration phase. The Appeal, prepared in consultation with United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, will provide initial basic food, health, water and sanitation, shelter and infrastructure assistance. In addition, it seeks to address the immediate needs of former child soldiers and abandoned children. The United Nations System Inter-Agency Programme for Community Reintegration and Peace-Building, coordinated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), seeks $60.7 million for immediate rehabilitation and peace-building activities during all of 1997. That Programme will focus on community reintegration and social and economic recovery, as well as job creation, strengthening law enforcement institutions and other elements of civil administration and assisting in the management of elections. Years of civil war have destroyed most institutions of civil society, property and productive capacity in Liberia. Fighting has claimed the lives of an estimated 150,000 Liberians. More than two-thirds of the pre-war population of approximately 2.3 million have been forced from their homes. An estimated 750,000 of those are internally displaced and another 768,000 have taken refuge in neighbouring countries and overseas. Over 1.5 million Liberians remain dependent on humanitarian assistance. The international community is called upon to respond generously to those initiatives to support the people of Liberia in their aspirations for a new life free of war and destruction.

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