OCHA Situation Report No. 58
Liberia
14 October 2003


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

GENERAL SITUATION

Monrovia remained calm but fewer people were visible on the streets.  The
humanitarian community scaled down their operations until 16 September. On
13 October, a military parade of armoured tanks and vehicles organised by
UNMIL took place to reassure residents in advance on the inauguration of
the national transitional government of Liberia today. Nevertheless, the
induction into office of Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant took place
peacefully, ending the two month Presidency of Moses Blah.

A team of field security officers will be travelling to the border city of
Voinjama (Lofa county) on 16 October, ahead of the anticipated
humanitarian mission that is planned for next week.  The security team is
expected to assess the general security conditions of this northern Lofa
city that has been isolated from the humanitarian assistance for years.
The meeting (11 October) of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) has
decided to extend the arms-free zone to refugee and IDP camps in
Montserrado. UNMIL will now be able to conduct more active search and
removal of weapons in and around the camps.

HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

1. Food aid

WFP and its implementing partner, LIURD, distributed food to a residual
caseload of 226 IDPs in Blamasee camp in Montserrado.  The beneficiaries
received 3.6 Metric Tons of assorted commodities.

The following distributions were carried out on 11-12 October 2003.

|-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------------|
|   IDP     |  Location   |IP     | Caseload | Qty distributed |
|           |             |       |          |      (mt)       |
|-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------------|
| Blamasee  | Montserrado | LIURD |      627 |       10.3      |
|-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------------|
| Harbel    | Harbel      | CRS   |    7,104 |       108.4     |
| Multilat. |             |       |          |                 |
|-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------------|
|           |             | TOTAL |    7,776 |       118.7     |
|-----------+-------------+-------+----------+-----------------|


2.  Internally Displaced Persons

An inter-agency assessment of the condition of IDPs reportedly fleeing
Sanoye to Totota is scheduled for 17 October.

3. Water, Sanitation, Shelter & NFIs

Phase seven (7) of the WHO/UNICEF sponsored MOH chlorination of 5,000
wells has been completed. Phase eight (8) of the chlorination exercise is
scheduled to begin next week.  Fifty-two (52) people were trained to
undertake Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) assessments in support
of the UNICEF supported Back To School (BTS) campaign in Montserrado,
Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties. A UNHCR chartered vessel arrived in
Monrovia (13 October) carrying blankets, jerry cans, plastic sheeting,
kitchen sets and soap for approximately 10,000 people.  Containers with
stocks for over 75, 000 people are being shipped from Accra, Copenhagen
and Freetown.  UNHCR has so far distributed emergency relief to about
40,000 people in Liberia.  Action Aid, an international NGO has completed
rehabilitating 500 of the planned total of 800 shelters for vulnerable
families

4. Education

Under the Rapid Assessment of Learning Spaces (RALS) verification of data
collected is being finalized in preparation for detailed plans for the
distribution of Back to School supplies.  Also, as part of the Back to
School strategy, the first County training and teacher orientation
workshops will be held from (16-18) October in Montserrado and Margibi
Counties.

5. Health & Nutrition

A six-day workshop supported by UNICEF, WHO and the Ministry of Health
that addressed nutrition monitoring and assessments and the organization
and management of Selective Feeding Programmes ended (13 October).

COMMON SERVICES

6. United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC)

The UNJLC website is: www.unjlc.org/home/liberia

7. Humanitarian Information Centre

The humanitarian website: www.humanitarian.org/liberia. To write to them:
hic.Liberia@undp.org for any mapping needs.


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