IRIN Focus on Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees

The football matches, parade, arts and craft exhibition and dance that marked World Refugee Day in Danane, 600 km west of Abidjan, may have allowed the many Liberians and Sierra Leoneans there to escape for just a while from the harsh reality of displacement. The relaxed atmosphere offered the refugees a sneak peek into what most are looking for: a life free of insecurity and instability. Danane, located only 30 km from Liberia, is one of two prefectures in the ‘zone d’accueil des refugies’ (ZAR), the area designated by the Ivorian government to shelter refugees. The other is Guiglo, 150 km to the south, which hosts Cote d’Ivoire’s only refugee camp, Nicla. Nicla has some 8,000 inmates. The rest of the estimated 122,000 refugees live in other parts of Guiglo, Danane and the 10 small towns and villages in between. Among them are 1,279 Sierra Leoneans, including Tamba Lahai, who fled Kailahun in eastern Sierra Leone four years ago after the RUF killed his father and chopped off his left arm during a raid. He, his 11 children and his wife made the journey to Danane mostly on foot, passing through the Liberian bush. Lahai says he is in his early 50’s, but looks older and frail. “Living conditions are hard,” he said. The hardest thing, he added, has been feeding his family, especially after the United Nations stopped giving the refugees food aid last year. Since then, Lahai takes a few of his children each morning into the forest where they chop some wood that they later sell in order to buy food. Another major concern is his family’s health. He says he is very grateful that no one has fallen seriously ill as he cannot afford medical bills. Lahai does not want to stay in Cote d’Ivoire or return to Sierra Leone, where he has lost everything. After four years in Danane, all he wants is to leave Africa and resettle in North America. “I don’t want to stay here any more,” he says, adding that he hopes the UN will help him. He says he has been well-treated by the locals, especially his landlord who has allowed him to stay for free in the room where he lives, but the lack of food and money and a general feeling of insecurity make him want to move. Sumaila Mana, 27, also from Kailahun, says food is a major concern for the refugees. Since the food aid was stopped, he has been working on farms for about 500 francs CFA (roughly US $ 0.70) a day. Things have been difficult for him as he has had to pay for medication for his children, who have fallen sick several times since their arrival in Cote d’Ivoire six years ago. He also thinks resettlement is the best option for him but, unlike Lahai, he does not rule out relocating to another African country. “We struggle before we eat,” Alice Zulu, a woman in her mid-50s, tells IRIN. Zulu, one of about 120,000 Liberians in the area, arrived on foot in 1995 with her children, mother and father, who has since died and is buried in Guiglo. Women play an important role in providing for their families and communities, says Zulu, who chairs the women’s association in Nicla. Some work as farm labourers or tenant farmers while others sell hand-sewn items. She, too, hopes that somehow, food aid will be resumed. That is unlikely to happen, mainly because the government and UNHCR have opted for a policy of ending special assistance for refugees and integrating into local communities those who opted not to return to their home countries under voluntary repatriation programmes. The decision to stop the food aid has been “very misunderstood, very misinterpreted and very misaccepted” by the refugees, UNHCR’s administrator in Danane, Marie-Louise Dzietham, told IRIN. A major source of friction is the fact that troops deployed to the area have not always recognised the special ID cards the government has issued to refugees, which has led to cases of harassment. A Liberian refugee who addressed a panel of government and UNHCR officials on 19 June in Danane received an ovation when he asked why such a situation existed and what steps were being taken to remedy it. Lieutenant Justine Kouame of the Ministry of Civil Protection blamed the problem on a few operatives who were not well informed about the special ID cards and said steps were being taken to make sure all members of the security forces realise that they are legal documents. Refugees’ lack of knowledge of Ivorian laws and of their rights and obligations as refugees has also led to misunderstandings. Some, for example, have tried to travel outside the designated refugee area using the special card, which is valid only for movement within the area. The Ivorian authorities, for their part, have other concerns. In November 2000, three armed Liberians were arrested in Danane on their way to Liberia. Last month, 14 Liberians and one Guinean with fake IDs were intercepted near Danane while travelling in a minibus. They confessed that they were going to “reinforce ULIMO-J,” Danane’s prefect, Eleuthere-Pierre Logbo, said. ULIMO-J is a Liberian anti-government group. The 18 are being held in Danane’s only prison. The two incidents have led to a tightening of security measures, in particular a decision by the government to deploy more troops to protect the area and monitor the border situation. “Just as we don’t want Cote d’Ivoire to be victim of attacks launched from other countries, we do not want our territory to serve as a base for attacks on others,” Logbo said. Managing the situation in the zone has called for close collaboration between national and international actors. The prefect meets every Tuesday with the heads of security forces in Danane and neighbouring towns. UNHCR, its operating partner CARITAS and other NGOs have been meeting every so often to assess the situation and current needs. Relief bodies still cater to the older caseload of refugees, but their efforts in recent weeks have focused on people displaced by fighting in Lofa County in northern Liberia. According to UNHCR the area recorded 2,647 new refugees between 27 April and 19 June. Most are girls and women between five and 60 years old, as has been the case for the past 10 years. Humanitarian workers say they have been paying close attention to health issues. During a meeting of UNHCR and partners on 8 June, the commission in charge of the health situation said “the demand for condoms remains very low which explains the great number of STDs and unwanted pregnancies among young refugees.” The health situation, especially sexual health, is hard to assess, according to officials: very few AIDS cases, for example, have been reported but that does not mean there are none, Dzietham said. Relations between area residents and refugees are generally positive, barring isolated incidents, according to refugees, locals and officials. There have also been marriages between the two groups. However, most refugees reject the idea of integration and see Cote d’Ivoire as a transit point to Western countries, especially North America. The youth were more adamant than their elders about wanting to leave Africa and their clothing seemed to show where their interest lay: dollar signs on silver necklaces hanging to the middle of the chest; baggy jeans or shorts; camouflage pants; basketball sneakers; headbands and silver rings, topped off with gestures and words drawn from North American rap culture. Harrison Barshall, a Liberian refugee who came to Cote d’Ivoire in 1990 and now lives in Abidjan, where he gives English lessons, said he would remain in the country until “God helps me get to America”. Since 19 June, the US Immigration and Naturalization Services and a partner NGO have been conducting interviews in Danane to select the next batch of refugees for resettlement in the United States. The interviews are scheduled to continue until 26 July. Ivorian officials feel, however, that more needs to be done to help the host communities. The Minister of Defense and Civil Protection, Moise Lida Kouassi, said in a statement marking World Refugee Day on 20 June that the country was “a bit out of breath” after hosting the refugees for a decade. Kouassi appealed to the international community to fund a programme that aims to revamp key social sectors such as health, education, agriculture and economic development so to alleviate the burden placed on the area due to the refugee influx which, in the case of Danane, has caused the population to double. He said the government hoped the Programme de rehabilitation de la zone d’accueil des refugies would be supported for the benefit of both the refugees and the country.