LIBERIA: War-displaced returning home, camps to be shut down

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

MONROVIA, 27 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The government and the UN are shutting down camps across Liberia that have housed hundreds of thousands of citizens displaced by war, as peace returns to the country and citizens return to their home villages.

Some 300,000 men, women and children internally displaced by Liberia’s war have left camps and returned home since late 2004 and officials hope the remaining 20,000-odd will be back in their home villages in the next two months.

“We are certainly working closely with other UN agencies to speed up the resettlement of remaining internally displaced persons (IDPs) back to their counties of origin by the end of April, and by the end of June all IDP camps will be formally shut down,” William Sando, acting head of the Refugees Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, told IRIN on Monday.

The UN is providing protection, cash grants and supplies to Liberians starting anew in their home villages - many of which were razed in the 14-year war. Now in a newly stable Liberia the government and the UN are razing the temporary shelters where people sought refuge from brutal fighting.

But some displaced people continue to linger around camps, some saying they need to continue working in order to have the means to rebuild. Hawa Sarnor, 40, has been living in a camp outside the capital Monrovia for four years. “I went back and saw my home destroyed by the war, but I have to come back to do small business and get some money to repair my home before I can finally move back.”

Other families will wait until children finish the school year. Boakai Karmoh’s five children - whose mother was killed in fighting in 2003 - are attending school in Monrovia. “I am eager to go back home, but I cannot leave my children behind.”

Before the UN kicked off the resettlement of IDPs in November 2004, there were more than 300,000 internally displaced persons sheltering in 22 camps, most situated on the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia. Three camps remain.

Liberia’s war killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced some one million from their homes - most of them to neighbouring countries. As stability firmly takes hold with a new elected government in Liberia, the UN refugee agency recently stepped up its efforts to encourage about 160,000 Liberians to return home from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and elsewhere.

Dennis McNamara, internal displacement chief with UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Liberia’s continued recovery depends on people returning to rebuild.

“Liberia’s recovery program depends on the settling of the displaced population. There cannot be peace-building and reconstruction where there is shifting of people by displacement.”

[ENDS]