| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
UNHCR RECEIVES FUNDS FOR SIERRA LEONEAN EMERGENCY AND LIBERIAN RETURN
Refugee operations in West Africa got a boost Thursday when UNHCR announced it had received over $3 million this month for the Sierra Leonean emergency and the Liberian voluntary repatriation operation.
The contributions were announced by Abou Moussa, Head of UNHCR operations in the region. "Since the beginning of October we've received crucial financial support for our programs in these countries from the United States Government and the European Union", Moussa said. "This is especially important late in the year, when we are stretching resources to ensure we can help Liberians who want to go home and Sierra Leoneans who are being chased from their country by war", he added. UNHCR has appealed for $39.5 million for the operations for 1998. The latest donations bring the total received to $26.4 million. $1.7 million is destined specifically for victims of the violence in Sierra Leone where rebels resisting West African peacekeepers have mutilated and assaulted hundreds of civilians in order to sow terror in the countryside.
"In Guinea we've treated 475 refugees who've had their hands or arms cut off by rebels as a "message" to the population. There are hundreds more victims inside Sierra Leone, and several times that number of women and children who've suffered rape and trauma," said Moussa. UNHCR and specialised non-governmental organisations are working to aid the victims. In the past two weeks, 7,500 new Sierra Leonean refugees have been registered in Forecariah, Guinea, and battles between loyalist forces and rebels show no sign of abating.
UNHCR is currently assisting 400,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea and Liberia. Around 250,000 of those have arrived since fighting between the deposed military junta and West African peacekeepers started earlier this year.
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For further information conatact Khassim Diagne in Abidjan at, (225) 323665/67 or Paul Stromberg in Geneva at (41 22) 739 8731
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN West Africa, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN-WA Tel: +225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci for more information or subscription. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this report, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the Web at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org . Mailing list: irin-wa-extra]
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 11:05:25 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: West Africa: UNHCR receives funds for emergencies in Sierra Leone and Liberia, 98.10.16 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.981016110403.5632A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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