LIBERIANS DISPLACED BY FIGHTING CONTINUE TO STREAM INTO CAMPS, UN INTER-AGENCY NEEDS-ASSESSMENT TEAM FINDS

LIBERIANS DISPLACED BY FIGHTING CONTINUE TO STREAM INTO CAMPS,

UN INTER-AGENCY NEEDS-ASSESSMENT TEAM FINDS

NEW YORK, 21 October (OCHA) -- An inter-agency mission that assessed conditions in camps for internally displaced persons at Totota and Salala reports that displaced Liberians continue to stream into the camps.  Further, the camps need to be expanded to meet growing numbers of persons seeking shelter, as well as urgent implementation of programmes for clean water and sanitation.

The mission found that a steady influx of internally displaced persons continued through September, although some people were reported to be returning to their communities in the area.  The situation in the transit shelters was generally unsatisfactory as they were overcrowded and in most instances, people were living there beyond the one to two weeks generally considered as acceptable.  Some had stayed in transit centres for as long as seven months.  At a minimum, those in transit must be included in the next food distribution cycle as the team found that many in the transit camps were selling their clothes to buy food.  There was an urgent need to supply the internally displaced persons with cooking equipment, as many of them had no cooking pots.  It was also common for several families to take turns cooking with the one available pot.

In the Salala camp, there was a reported population of 26,091, roughly 80 per cent of whom were from Lofa County.  Many had been accommodated in camps around Gbarnga until earlier this year.  In August and September, the camp had seen an influx of some 15,000 internally displaced persons from Totota.  Most of these people had returned to their camps, but 2,000 remained in Salala camp.  In Salala, the mission found that there had been a marked improvement with regard to food and child nutrition.

There were four separate sites for internally displaced persons in Totota, which sheltered some 80,000 people.  Many of the displaced reported that they had arrived from Lofa County in September, and that they had been abused by members of armed groups.  Food distribution to the camps, which had been interrupted earlier this month, was to resume by the end of October.

The mission recommended that camps in both Totota and Salala needed improvement.  The expansion of the “Maimu 2” camp at Totota and Salala were an important factor in addressing the problem.  Sanitation facilities in all camps needed improvement and rapid implementation of the plans in this sector should be a priority issue.

For further information, please call Rosemary Musumba, tel.: +377 47 530 048 (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Liberia); Stephanie Bunker, tel.: +917 367 5126 (OCHA New York); Elizabeth Byrs, tel.: +41 22 917 2653 (OCHA Geneva).

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