OCHA Situation Report No. 115
Liberia
7 September 2004


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

A. General Situation
Highlights

UNMIL to End Disarmament in October

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General Jacques Paul Klein has 
said disarmament of ex-combatants will conclude at the end of October this 
year. He was briefing speaking at the regular UN Mission in Liberia. The 
SRSG called on all combatants who have not disarmed to do so before 31 
October or face prosecution according to the laws of Liberia. UNMIL's head 
of DDRR Clive Jachnik, said that over 71,000 ex-combatants have been 
disarmed, far exceeding the number originally anticipated.

Disarmament Trust Needs More Funds, says UNDP

United Nations Development Program Country Director, Steven Ursino, has 
said that the Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and 
Rehabilitation (DDRR) Trust Fund for Liberia needs a further US$28million 
of donor's pledges to implement in full the various components of the 
rehabilitation and reintegration program for ex-combatants.

Speaking at the UN Press briefing Mr. Ursino said that he hoped the 
upcoming conference in Washington, D.C to review the progress made by the 
transitional government will encourage donors to fulfill their pledges to 
Liberia.

B. COORDINATION

Buchanan-River Cess Coordination Meeting

>From 31 August to 2 September the Humanitarian Affairs Officer and RRR
Officer conducted an assessment mission to Cestos City in River Cess 
County. In general, major humanitarian concerns include a lack of health 
services, poor water and Sanitation (Watsan) facilities, localized food 
insecurity in central and north east River Cess, non-functioning 
educational facilities, and extreme poor condition of roads and bridges 
hindering humanitarian access. Currently ACF, an international NGO and the 
ICRC are doing well rehabilitation and Watsan support, and MSF-H is 
providing health care in two mobile clinics. There are also communities in 
the North and Central parts of the county whose villages were severely 
burned in the war and the ICRC has been providing necessary NFI's and 
tools to assist them with reconstruction of houses and agricultural plots. 
There has also been a small-scale but steady spontaneous return of 
displaced people both from camps in Monrovia and Buchanan. The Liberian 
Red Cross registered the return of approximately 10,000 since March and 
estimates that a few hundred more have returned in the last few months. 
Most of these IDPs are in need of food assistance. A series of open 
meetings will now be held with Government Officials, UN agencies, NGOs, 
and community stakeholders to further discuss needs. In addition a weekly 
humanitarian coordination meeting for all operational agencies is being 
held in Buchanan and Cestos City on alternate weeks.

UNHCR hosts Reintegration Workshop in Voinjama

During the reporting period, UNHCR in collaboration with GTZ hosted a 
three-day reintegration workshop in Voinjama recently. The workshop aimed 
at preparing the groundwork for the organized return of Liberian refugees 
from asylum countries, with UNHCR assistance. The repatriation exercise is 
scheduled to start on October 1. Participants were imparted skills on 
identification of community projects and how these projects could also be 
empowered in the future. The reintegration workshop followed the official 
launching of the Community Empowerment Program (CEP) in Lofa County on the 
28 August 2004.

UNHCR Reintegration Program continues to make significant progress in 
their areas of operations. International Medical Corps (IMC) is 
rehabilitating the clinic in Borkeza, Lofa County with UNHCR's funding. 
The clinic is now operational with six medical staff being deployed 
providing health services to residents of the area. It was officially 
opened 23 August 2004. IMC is also expected to complete the Luyema and 
Bolahun clinics rehabilitation by 30 September 2004. In the education 
sector, Peace Winds Japan, an international NGO is currently 
rehabilitating the Zorzor Central High School, roofing having been 
completed to one of the buildings.

In related developments, Hope International Mission, UNHCR's implementing 
partner in Gbarpolu County has completed the rehabilitation of four water 
wells and 7 pit latrines as part of the shelter project in Totoquelleh, 
Gbarpolu County. In addition, 30 community based housing units have been 
built, 10 of which have not yet been dumped with mud due to the heavy 
rainfall.

In Grand Cape Mount County, GTZ has commenced construction of the transit 
center at Bo-Waterside. The transit site will host 250 persons. It is 
worth noting that the majority of the returnees going to Grand Cape Mount 
are from Tewor District, Bo Waterside area. Meanwhile, the digging of 
wells has commenced in Graie, Tappita District, Nimba County. The town, a 
return area for many IDPs still in Saclepea and other locations as well as 
Liberian refugees in Guinea and Ivory Coast, is among the most devastated 
in Lower Nimba County. In the same County, all Districts have now formed 
the Development Committee responsible to identify and galvanize support 
for community-based projects. The proposed CEPs touch on basically all 
sectors. UNHCR and its implementing partner, Liberia United to Serve 
Humanity (LUSH) are now in the process of compiling a comprehensive list 
and identifying needs for discussion with the County authorities in order 
to determine needs for each District based on resources and timing. In 
Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, three CEPs on water, school rehabilitation and 
sanitation have also been identified.

Disarmament and demobilization update

The DDRR activities continued smoothly relatively throughout the country, 
in four locations including VOA (Monteserado County), Tubmanburg (Bomi 
County), Ganta (Nimba County) and Zwedru (Grand Gedeh County). The 
cantonment sites in Gbanrga and Buchanan were closed during the week. The 
upcoming cantonment site in preparation is Voinjama (Lofa County), planned 
to open this week.

As of August 29, some 70,847 ex-combatants had been disarmed and 62,826 
demobilized since December 2003. Weapons and ammunitions handed over since 
December include about 20,972 weapons, 5,256.690 small arms ammunitions 
and 22,226 unexploded ordnance.

During the reporting period, WFP provided a total of 12 Mt of food as wet 
feeding ration at various cantonment sites and the ICCs to some 2859 
ex-combatants, including 1009 Male, 331 Female, 1179 Boys and 340 Girls.

Furthermore, a total of 102 Mt of assorted food commodities including 
Rice, Pulses, Vegetable Oil and salt was distributed as take home ration 
to some 2,290 ex-combatants upon completion of the demobilization process.

C. HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Food Aid

WFP food distribution updates

During the reporting period and to complete general food distribution for 
the month of August, WFP distributed a total of 577 Mt during the week, to 
some 48,161 IDPs, 4883 Returnees and 467 Refugees.

The September food distribution is planned to commence on September 06. In 
September, WFP plans to feed some 330,783 IDPs, 9650 Returnees and 694 
Refugees under general food distribution with a total of 3,530 Mt of 
assorted food commodities.

However, due to the existing pipeline constraints, the daily food rations 
for IDPs and returnees will be reduced further to 1,350 Kilo calories for 
the month. With the new reduced ration, beneficiaries will be receiving 
36% less than the recommended daily ration of 2,100 kilo calories. 
Reduction of rations started in June with provision of 1,730 Kilo calories 
between June and August.

WFP will held a meeting with all food distribution implementing partners 
on 2 September to discuss the implementation of the September distribution 
plan with focus on a strategy to sensitize the beneficiaries about further 
reduced rations and the need to better monitor food distributions to 
minimize food leakages.

2004-2005 school feeding program

WFP and School Feeding Implementing Partners continued to discuss field 
level agreements for the next school academic year 2004 -- 2005, that is 
expected to start in October. Preparation of the agreements is underway.

Two Swedish Journalists, currently visiting Liberia, were taken to cover 
some WFP school feeding activities in Lofa and Bong Counties. The 
Journalists interviewed several school administrators on the impact of 
food assistance on the enrollment rate of children in the schools.

Health and Nutrition

The fuel shortage experienced in the Country during the reporting period 
affected food deliveries to various orphanages in Monrovia. Some food 
distributions were put on hold for a few days due to lack of fuel. By end 
of the reporting period, the fuel supply had improved and food deliveries 
to institutional centers resumed.

During the reporting period, increased cases of severe malnutrition were 
reported in Buchanan Government hospital, Grand Bassa County. Some 10 
cases of severely malnourished children were received in the hospital in a 
period of one week. The children were immediately referred to the MSF-H 
therapeutic feeding centre supported by WFP in Monrovia. MSF-H, Merlin and 
ACF are investigating the cause of this sudden rise in malnutrition cases.

ACF has also reported an increased caseload of malnourished children in 
Bong County. WFP is supporting ACF with food for supplementary and 
therapeutic feeding in the area. The current rainy season has increased 
the caseload a rise in childhood illnesses (malaria and diarrhea).

WFP participated in the Nutrition Working Group meeting on August 26, 2004 
at the Ministry of Health (MoH). The meeting expressed concern over the 
low capacity of the MoH and Social Welfare to coordinate nutritional 
issues in the country. Planned activities of the working group such as, 
monitoring and follow-up on MCH activities, training on SFP and TFC 
guidelines, nutrition assessment have been delayed and are uncoordinated. 
The MoH appealed to concerned UN Agencies and other partners to second 
staff to the ministry to boost its capacity.

Surveillance Assessment report

World Health Organisation, Ministry of Health, NGOs and other Health 
partners have discussed the recommendations of the assessment for the 
national surveillance system. The discussion focused on roles and 
responsibilities of the Ministry of Health, WHO and Health partners during 
the whole process of the implementation of IDSR.

Five years Strategic plan and Proposal for the Prevention of Lassa fever 
for Liberia

WHO supported the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to develop the 
five years strategic plan and proposal for the prevention and control of 
Lassa fever.

The proposal and strategic plan fall within the scope of the regional 
framework for the prevention and control of Lassa fever in Mano River 
Union countries.

Preparations towards Synchronized NID

As a follow-up to the National Micro-planning workshop, 5 technical 
support teams comprising WHO, UNICEF, MOH and other NGOS have left for the 
counties to support them to develop County level Micro-plans. The teams 
will spend two days in each county. Due to a security alert for (Fish 
Town) in River Gee County, the Health team is expected to join the 
Maryland County Team if the security permits.

UNICEF and WHO is collaborating with the Ministry of Health, Rotary 
International, local and international NGOs to conduct two rounds of 
Synchronized National Immunization Days (SNIDS) in October and November 
2004.

Field visits to Monrovia and its environs

A Technical team comprising of WHO and MOH undertook field visits to 
communities in Monrovia and its environs. The purpose was to meet 
stakeholders in areas of gender-based violence, particularly sexual gender 
based violence and to obtain information for the up-coming rapid 
assessment of gender based issues.

Environmental & Occupational Health Policy for Liberia

WHO has finalized a situation report on Environmental & Occupational 
Health. This is the first step towards the formulation of an Environmental 
& Occupational Health Policy for Liberia.

ICRC Undertakes Rehabilitation Projects in the Southeast

According to a release issued in Monrovia during the reporting period, the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched a new 
operation which seeks to rehabilitate wells, install new hand pumps, build 
latrines and distribute essential items to needy families in Rivercess, 
Maryland, River Gee and Grand Kru counties.

Water and Sanitation

UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministries of Rural Development and 
Lands, Mines & Energy, and the following NGOs: New Era, Water & 
Environmental Sanitation Technical (WESTECH), Community & Human 
Development Agency (COHDA), Productive Action for Tomorrow (PAT), and 
Community Development Services (CODES), have constructed at each of seven 
schools in Montserrado and RiverCess Counties a well fitted with hand pump 
and one-four compartment latrine with hand washing bins. The provision of 
the water and sanitation facilities to the schools is in support of the 
ongoing Back to School programme in the country and will benefit 2,800 
students in the seven schools.

During the reporting period, UNICEF supported the restoration of water 
services at the Phebe Hospital in Gbarnga, Bong County with the 
installation of eight (8) hand pumps to replace those looted during the 
war, and the repairs of four hand pumps.

Education

UNICEF provided technical and logistical support to the Ministry of 
Education to complete rapid assessment of learning spaces in the last two 
of Liberia's thirteen (15) counties: Sinoe and RiverCess. The assessment 
provides information on the state of schools in the counties for 
intervention by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education under the Back to 
School initiative.

UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are discussing the Sara Communication 
Initiative as a strategy to enhance the enrolment of girls in schools in 
Liberia and the strengthen their life skills. UNICEF presented the 
strategy document to the Minister of Education for review and 
consideration for inclusion in the Liberian school curriculum. The Sara 
Life skills program includes modules on social relationships, HIV/AIDS, 
self-esteem, negotiation skills, girls Education.

UNICEF and the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) completed emergency education 
orientation for 300 teachers from the seven (7) districts of Bong County. 
This brings the number of teachers trained in emergency education to 2,500 
throughout the counties.

Protection

The current family tracing and reintegration (FTR) activities for children 
associated with fighting forces (CAFF) are as follows: Total caseload 
(December 2003 inclusive) 5,783 children (boys: 4619, girls: 1174 
including 15 pregnant girls) 48 babies. 4,813 children were reunified with 
their families (boys: 3846, girls: 967), and 970 (boys: 748, girls: 222) 
are pending reunification. The present caseload of children in the ICCs is 
970 (748 boys, 222 girls).

With UNICEF support, Sustainable Development Promoters (SDP) began the 
first cycle of training at their Gbarnga city site on Monday 23 August. 
Children participated in a one-day orientation before classes started on 
24 August. UNICEF met with the children enrolled in the programme and 
discussed their concerns about subsistence allowance, formal education and 
future employment opportunities. There are currently 283 children (229 
boys and 54 girls) registered at this site. The trades include tailoring, 
carpentry, masonry, mechanics, agriculture and plumbing. SDP's two 
remaining sites are scheduled to open shortly and currently have 327 
children (275 boys and 52 girls) enrolled.

UNICEF facilitated in the training of 50 participants from Liberian Human 
Rights organization on monitoring, reporting and investigating child 
rights abuses and violation. The training was organized by the UNDP 
Country Office.

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