A MASSIVE influx of refugees from Ivory Coast is stretching Liberian communities to breaking point, a children’s charity has warned, amid fears of an escalation in retribution attacks along the border in the west.
One hundred and fifty thousand people have already fled the war-torn country for the relative safety of Liberia, putting extreme pressure on local communities, where the population in some villages has increased almost tenfold.
Two-thirds of those crossing are women and children, many separated from their families, said Plan International.
“The situation for children is very worrying. Some have had to walk through dense jungle for up to four days to reach Liberia and have witnessed violence and killings,” said Mohamed Bah, Plan’s country director in Liberia.
“These children and families are traumatised and need support to overcome the atrocities they have seen. The communities in Liberia also need help to cope.”
Many refugees are now too scared to return home but local communities, who have been providing food and shelter to them, have nothing left to give, risking an extension of the current crisis.
“The fallout of the past four months will be felt for a long time to come,” said Philippe Conraud, Oxfam’s regional humanitarian co-ordinator.
Airlifts of food and other supplies have begun into the region but the poor road and bridge conditions, added to the onset of the rainy season, are making the job difficult, said the United Nations World Food Programme.
The UN has requested $146.5 million to address the refugee crisis, but only a quarter of that amount has so far been pledged.
The race to avert a humanitarian crisis comes as details emerged of Liberian mercenaries fighting on both sides in Ivory Coast’s civil war, raping and killing civilians as they destroyed villages on their way to the country’s largest city, Abidjan.
Although many are now returning home, they could further destabilise the region, say security experts.
“If they are not controlled they could cause trouble in Ivory Coast’s west,” said Gilles Yabi, International Crisis Group’s West Africa project director.