UN UNDERTAKES FIRST HUMANITARIAN MISSION TO VOINJAMA, LIBERIA, IN FOUR YEARS

UN UNDERTAKES FIRST HUMANITARIAN MISSION TO VOINJAMA, LIBERIA, IN FOUR YEARS

MONROVIA, 20 October (OCHA) -- On Saturday, the United Nations undertook a rapid assessment mission to Voinjama (Lofa County), a Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)-controlled city located on Liberia’s northern border with Guinea –- the first international mission to that city in four years.  “This rapid assessment represents the critical first step in ensuring a sustained United Nations engagement in Voinjama and Lofa County”, said United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Abou Moussa.

Fifteen staff from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Human Rights Unit, Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator (UNSECOORD), and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) flew by UNMIL helicopter to the remote northern city some 240 kilometres outside of Monrovia, which they found in acute need of assistance.  This mission represents a central part of the United Nations’ ongoing process of progressively providing humanitarian assistance throughout Liberia.  Voinjama is the fourth of five humanitarian hubs from which humanitarian assistance will be delivered.

“Fourteen years of civil war have left Voinjama broken and in need of assistance”, commented Dr. Omar Khatib, Head of the WHO office in Liberia.  “The city has little infrastructure to speak of and civilians are forced to scavenge for food in the bush.”  Dr. Khatib delivered two badly needed medical kits to the clinic in Voinjama –- an immediate measure in a programme of longer-term United Nations engagement in the city.

The mission found a mostly deserted city with many injured during fighting awaiting treatment in the city’s only clinic, which receives an overwhelming 100 patients/day and in bad need of repair, medicine and basic supplies.  All houses were in a state of disrepair -– with less than 10 per cent of the structures in a habitable condition.  Schools are barely functioning, though a small group of teachers continues to work free of charge to provide what little education is possible in a community with almost no remaining infrastructure.  Immediate needs include drugs, vaccines, rice seed and agricultural tools, shelter, construction and educational materials.

Members of LURD’s High Command renewed their commitment to the Accra accord and reiterated their guarantee for safe humanitarian access to Voinjama.  The United Nations will conduct a follow-up mission in the near future –- a further step towards establishing a permanent United Nations presence in Voinjama. 

“Only humanitarian assistance will ensure that the emerging peace, achieved at such a high human cost, will take root in Liberia”, said Mr. Moussa.  “The international community now has a window of opportunity to ensure that peace prevails in Liberia and by extension in the region as a whole.  Only one half of Liberia’s humanitarian programming was funded in 2003 -– a repeat of this in 2004 will jeopardize the humanitarian community’s ability to provide lifesaving services in Liberia.”

On 19 November, the United Nations will launch the 2004 Consolidated Appeal for Liberia in Ottawa, Canada.  This document provides a full list of proposed United Nations humanitarian programming in Liberia -– a critical support as Liberians work to undo the effects of 14 years of war and move the country towards an enduring peace.

For further information, please call Rosemary Musumba, tel. +377 47 530 048 (OCHA Liberia); Stephanie Bunker, tel. +917 367 5126  (OCHA New York); and Elizabeth Byrs, tel. +41 22 917 2653 (OCHA Geneva)

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