LIBERIA: GREAT HUMANITARIAN NEEDS REMAIN THOUGH MONROVIA RELATIVELY CALM

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LIBERIA:  GREAT HUMANITARIAN NEEDS REMAIN THOUGH MONROVIA RELATIVELY CALM

NEW YORK, 15 July (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- Though a relative calm has prevailed in Monrovia for roughly one week, United Nations and non-governmental agencies are still confronted with great humanitarian needs in and around Monrovia.  Many of Monrovia’s internally displaced persons continue to suffer from shortages of food, clean water and basic health services.  Abuses against civilian populations, especially those living on Monrovia’s outskirts, are reported regularly.

The World Food Programme (WFP), together with non-governmental organizations and Liberian officials, have begun to distribute food to some of the more than 180,000 Monrovians in need of food aid.  But food insecurity among many internally displaced persons continues to be critical.  Because of a lack of security, internally displaced persons fear to venture into the villages to look for cassava, bush yams or any other food commodities.

Many internally displaced persons have had to beg and or sell their few valuable possessions to buy food.  There are reports of increasing malnutrition among children under five both in the camps and host communities.  Médecins Sans Frontières has reported that malnutrition, especially amongst under fives was still alarming in camps on the outskirts of Monrovia.  Two new therapeutic feeding centres for children will be opened in Seighbe and Mamba point, suburbs of Monrovia, to complement the two centres the non-governmental organization Action Against Hunger has been operating.

Through the sustained efforts of humanitarian organizations in Monrovia, the number of cases of cholera among the more than 30,000 internally displaced persons at the National Sports Stadium are decreasing.  Contaminated water, however, still poses a health risk to most Monrovians.  Despite efforts of the European Community, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and several non-governmental organizations, clean water is being delivered to only 35 of the 80 sites for internally displaced persons around Monrovia.   Agencies have identified 13 sites in especially critical need of water and sanitation services but are hampered by shortages of water tankers, water bladders and jerry cans. 

At some camps, private companies are charging internally displaced persons 10 Liberian Dollars for five gallons of water.  To cope with the rash of diarrhoeal diseases that result from contaminated water, humanitarian agencies are taking such actions as establishing oral rehydration therapy corners around Monrovia, as Médecins Sans Frontières has done.  Further planned interventions, such as the chlorination of wells around the city, are constrained by a lack of logistical capacity, especially transportation.

In the health sector, humanitarian agencies are facing serious shortages of supplies and services.  Though the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is providing some ambulance services, they are not sufficient to meet the demand for transporting internally displaced persons from their camps to referral hospitals.  Due in part to looting, hospitals lack food, water, stretchers, sheets, and beds. 

Health centres report that there is not a sufficient amount of blood available for transfusions, nor are there enough kits available for screening that blood for HIV/AIDS.  Merlin staff reported that health services in the port town of Buchanan had collapsed, as only two non-governmental organizations were able to visit the area and support services being provided by a mission hospital there.

As access becomes possible to the internally displaced persons camps in the parts of Montserrado County outside Monrovia, humanitarian staff receive reports of abuses against civilians.  Internally displaced persons at several camps, including those at Wilson Corner and Jah Tondo, report that armed militias extort money from them.  Internally displaced persons who have returned home report that in many cases their houses have been damaged, looted or occupied by armed groups.  Members of an inter-agency protection team established to monitor cases of abuse also report that they have themselves been threatened. 

For further information, please contact, in New York, Stephanie Bunker at (212) 963-1143.

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