Buotuo, Nimba_Liberia’s Internal Affairs Minister Varney Sirleaf along with several humanitarian actors are in the south east of Liberia to assess the refugee situation there.
Speaking in Boutou Nimba County, Minister said the mission is to assess the situation for prompt intervention by government and partners. He said there was a need for serious invention in the area of food, shelter, sanitation and health something said the partners have come to assess.
For her part, UNHCR Country Representative to Liberia Madam Roseline Okoro said there was a serious humanitarian situation that needed serious intervention.
She said for the past five to ten days the UNCHCR have been receiving up to one thousand refugees a day.
Also speaking, Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission(LRRRC) Executive Director Rev. Festus Logan told the audience in that Liberia was under obligation to provide international protection for people feeding conflict but strictly warm the refugee not to go back to the Ivory Coast to cause problem.
According to report over 5,000 Ivorian refugees have begun arriving in Liberia through the Liberian-Ivorian borders in Nimba county.
In the meantime, the refugees have been given some immediate relief items including food and clothing.
Nimba County has long and porous border with Ivory Coast on the east of Liberia. Kpablee administrative district is one of these unmanned entry points.
The residents are calling on the Government to deploy security forces to monitor the movement of people. They are also calling on the government and humanitarian organizations to help with food and clean water.
Othello Ziahn, the head of the community radio station in Kpablee town told front Page Africa recently that they have been overwhelm with population of refugees coming from neighboring Ivory Coast.
According to Ziahn, the only hand pump cannot serve the huge population, and as a result, the residents have resulted to fetching water for cooking and drinking from nearby creeks.
“The pump has a special time to open and close. It is strictly monitored by officials. So, when you are unfortunate to get water before the time of closure, then you have no choice but to go and get water from any of the nearby creeks around the town,” Ziahn told Front Page Africa.
The Ivorians are fearing a rising violence in Ivory coast in a post-election violence after two term president 82 year-old Alassane_Ouattara decided to run for a 3rd term in office.
