U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT BUREAU FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (BHR) OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA) LIBERIA - Complex Emergency Situation Report for FY1999 September 30, 1999
Note: The last situation report was issued on August 14, 1997 Overview The Liberian civil war was characterized by a number of ethnically based factions contending for power and resources. Peacekeeping forces from the Economic Community of West African States' (ECOWAS') Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) arrived in August 1990 to attempt to separate the warring factions and to provide security for the Monrovia area. It was only after seven years of fighting and numerous failed attempts at peace, however, that a viable peace accord and disarmament were achieved. The civil war ended with the signing of the Abuja II Peace Accords in August 17, 1996 and a cease-fire agreement on August 31, 1996. In July 1997, legislative and presidential elections were held for the first time since 1985. Charles Taylor, a former warring faction leader and his party, the National Patriotic Party, won both the presidential and legislative elections with a majority of more than two-thirds of the votes cast. The impact of the civil war on Liberian society has been devastating. Most infrastructure was destroyed and the conventional economy virtually ceased to function. The warring factions committed serious human rights abuses, looting was widespread, and large pockets of the population were living for long periods beyond the reach of humanitarian assistance. Liberia is only beginning to recover from this civil strife. Liberia continues to suffer from unemployment of 85% or higher; insufficient supplies of potable water and electricity; shortages of food, shelter and health care; and continued insecurity. The international relief community has focused its efforts on the resettlement and reintegration of returning refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Rehabilitation of basic services, destroyed during the war, is needed to draw uprooted Liberians home. Despite the remaining huge challenges, with three years of relative peace, conditions in Liberia no longer require emergency funding as they did during the height of the civil crisis. In 1998, President Taylor officially declared an end to the emergency period in Liberia. In early 1998, USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Response's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) and USAID's Mission in Liberia began formulating a transition plan to move USAID programs from emergency to more sustainable development activities. Since then, USAID/OFDA and USAID/Liberia have closely coordinated at both the field and headquarter levels to ensure a smooth transition. After more than nine years of providing humanitarian assistance, worth a total of $66.5 million, USAID/OFDA ended its programs in Liberia on June 30, 1999 and closed its office in Monrovia on July 18, 1999. Most OFDA grantees secured other donor funding to continue their programs. The majority of OFDA grantees sought USAID/Liberia follow-on funding; the Mission will support six of USAID/OFDA's nine grants. The continuation of these programs will assist Liberia's effort to support the continued return and resettlement of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). USAID/OFDA will continue to monitor the situation in Liberia and will remain flexible to respond to any new emergencies. NUMBERS AFFECTED An estimated 150,000 people died as a result of Liberia's civil war, 50,000 of whom were children. At the height of the war, out of a pre-war population of 2.4 million, some 700,000 people fled to neighboring countries (Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria), and more than 1 million were internally displaced. Most IDPs were concentrated in Monrovia and Buchanan. Security in the country has improved considerably since the elections in July 1997, prompting refugees to return home or express their desire to repatriate. As part of the national reconciliation process, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began a large-scale organized repatriation in December 1997. By May 1999, more than 109,000 Liberian refugees had returned to Liberia with UNHCR's assistance and an additional 200,000 Liberians are believed to have spontaneously repatriated. Nearly half of Liberian refugees living in surrounding countries have now repatriated and an estimated 75% of IDPs have returned to their villages and towns. In addition, as of May 1999, Liberia continues to host some 105,000 Sierra Leonean refugees. U.S. GOVERNMENT (USG) HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FY 1999 (TO DATE $32,981,289) Current Situation The present state of relative peace in Liberia has resulted in the widespread return of refugees and IDPs to their homes. Agricultural production has resumed, and improved access to land and markets has led to a corresponding increase in food production, a decrease in the rates of both global and severe malnutrition, and less reliance on food assistance. Schools and health facilities are slowly being reopened, although most Liberians still do not have access to those services. Electricity was restored to parts of Monrovia in July after being inoperative for nine years. Despite these improved conditions, Liberia remains an insecure environment. This year Lofa County has been wracked by ethnically based clashes. Government security forces, which are mostly made up of former National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) fighters, are implicated in numerous human rights abuses. U.S.-Liberian relations have been tenuous because of the Taylor government's poor economic and human rights record. Tensions were exacerbated when in September 1998, two Americans were wounded during clashes between government soldiers and ethnic Krahn followers of former faction leader Roosevelt Johnson outside the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. Johnson sought and received refuge in the U.S. Embassy and subsequently went into exile. U.S.-Liberian relations remained strained. The U.S. Department of State instituted an authorized departure order in September 1998, which limited the number of USG officials permitted to be in Liberia. Restrictions on USG personnel travel outside of Monrovia were also put into effect during the past year. These restrictions hindered USAID/OFDA's ability to closely monitor its programs. Political/military Official disarmament of Liberia's warring factions, as called for in the Abuja Peace Accord, took place between November 1996 and February 1997. Following this voluntary turning in of arms by 21,000 combatants belonging to the disbanded factions, ECOMOG also confiscated additional weapons by conducting cordon and search operations. However, by July 1997, only half of the estimated 60,000 fighters had given up their weapons. Following the Presidential and legislative elections, ECOMOG's mandate was extended until January 1998. ECOMOG now maintains only a skeletal force in Monrovia to secure the confiscated weapons and other remaining properties of the troops. On July 26, 1999 a symbolic burning of some of the confiscated weapons took place at the Barclay Training Center military barracks in Monrovia as part of Liberia's Independence Day celebrations. The bulk of the weapons destruction, supervised by ECOWAS and the U.N., began on July 25 in Tubmanburg in Bomi County and continues to date. Despite this arms desturction, Liberia is still beset by the problem of numerous arms and armed groups remaining throughout the country. One of the biggest post-war challenges facing Liberia has been the reintegration of ex-combatants. An estimated 60,000 Liberians took up arms during this conflict. Some have lived as fighters since their early teens and know of no other way of life. One of the most disastrous long-term effects of the war has been the mobilization of child soldiers. Of those who disarmed under the provisions of the Abuja Peace Accords, 21% of the combatants (4,306) were child soldiers under the age of 17. On July 27, 150 - 200 former fighters demonstrated outside the U.N. Peace Building offices, demanding resettlement benefits from the international community. They claimed that the international community had not kept promises to help them reintegrate, including skills training, after handing over their weapons at the end of the civil war. On August 3, the U.N. Resident Representative in Liberia announced an emergency package to assist some 20,000 registered former combatants, acknowledging that their grievances had some legitimacy. Relief Efforts During the civil war, efforts by the international relief community to provide humanitarian assistance were severely hampered by an unstable security situation, harassment, vehicle theft, and looting of relief supplies. As a result, relief efforts were not continuous - aid was often suspended in insecure areas and international relief workers were evacuated from Liberia several times throughout the emergency, adversely affecting the level and effectiveness of the assistance provided. Following the peace accords in August 1996, relief agencies were able to reach regions of Liberia that were inaccessible during most of the war. They extended their emergency programs in food, agriculture, health, water and sanitation. The humanitarian community's recent focus has been on the challenge of repatriating remaining refugees and resettling remaining IDPs. The Government of Liberia (GOL) is now in its second year of implementing a National Reconstruction Program with donor support. USAID/OFDA programming supported the resettlement efforts by providing basic health services and agricultural assistance to the returnees. In 1998, the GOL officially declared an end to the emergency period and has since urged donors to focus on assisting the government to increase Liberia's capacity to manage its own affairs. The international community is encouraging the government to implement macroeconomic reforms, control its security forces, and respect human rights. Current activities undertaken by the international relief community address not only immediate needs, such as clean water, food aid, food security, and emergency health services, but also aid the process of post-war reconstruction, including support for retraining of ex-combatants, the transportation of returning refugees, supporting the electoral process and civil society, education, and assistance to develop fiscal and monetary policies. Liberia continues to be a difficult environment for aid agencies. Several recent incidents of looting and harassment have disrupted humanitarian operations. For example, Lutheran World Services (LWS), a USAID/OFDA grantee operating an agricultural rehabilitation project, has had seeds and tools, intended for vulnerable farmers, stolen from their warehouses twice in recent months. A Catholic Relief Services (CRS) food warehouse was also looted in June. On April 21, unidentified assailants looted the World Food Program's (WFP) and other humanitarian organizations' offices and food stores in Voinjama, the main town in Lofa County in northwestern Liberia. Some 400 metric tons of WFP food were looted and several UN trucks and cars were stolen or vandalized, and estimates of people killed range up to over 100. A handful of European diplomats and 17 international aid workers on an assessment tour in the area were briefly taken hostage by the attackers, but released after government troops repelled the gunmen. In the wake of the fighting, 6,000 Liberians crossed the border into Guinea. The UN vehicles and equipment were returned (with the assistance of the Liberian Defense Ministry), though much of it was heavily damaged. WFP resumed its food deliveries to northern Liberia in early June, after more than a month's hiatus. Fighting broke out again in Lofa County in northwestern Liberia in the second week of August between government troops and rebels, calling themselves the Joint Forces for the Liberation of Liberia (JFFL). The rebels attacked and captured five towns. The government largely reasserted control over the towns within two weeks, although sporadic fighting with pockets of rebels continues, including in the provincial capital of Voinjama. . The rebels reportedly burned villages as they retreated towards Guinea. JFFL gunmen took hostage six international and three Liberian aid workers on August 11. In addition, a few days later, about 50 international aid staff, mostly from U.N. agencies such as UNHCR and WFP, and 50 dependents were held up at the border with Guinea by rebels who demanded assistance, such as fuel, in exchange for the freedom of the 100 captives. By August 15, all the hostages were released and had made their way to safety either in Monrovia or Guinea. During the fighting, unconfirmed reports indicate that some 800 MTs of food were looted from WFP stores in Kolahun. More than 20 UN vehicles (belonging to UNHCR and WFP) were commandeered. Supplies and equipment were looted, as well, and infrastructure in the refugee camp dismantled. This continued a pattern of recurrent looting of humanitarian assets in Lofa County. According to UNHCR, the looting is a major setback for UNHCR programs that target Liberian returnees and Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia. The fighting caused relief agencies and NGOs to pull out of northern Lofa County. Only Action Contre Le Faim (ACF) and MERLIN, which provide nutrition and health care assistance, remained to run their programs in Lofa County. Refugees and displaced persons In December 1997, UNHCR began registering Liberian refugees in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria for a voluntary repatriation program. UNHCR, the Seeds and Tools Committee of Liberia, and WFP provided emergency assistance packages to repatriating refugees. The Liberian Refugee, Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRC), the government department responsible for the coordination of the repatriation and reintegration program, continues to work with returning refugees and resettling IDPs. UNHCR plans to end its organized repatriation of Liberian refugees in December 1999. Convoys will operate until the end of December 1999, at which time Liberians in all countries of asylum will have had the chance to return home with assistance. UNHCR will continue reconstruction projects in Liberia for an additional six months. Some Liberian refugees remain reluctant to go home because of concerns about continuing ethnic tensions, finding jobs, and rebuilding damaged homes. In addition, the September 1998 U.S. Embassy confrontations prompted an estimated 18,00 Krahns to cross into Ivory Coast, even as other Liberians continued to repatriate. Ethnic Krahns have been hesitant to repatriate while President Taylor remains in power. However, there are signs that their fears may be easing, with higher recent returns to traditionally Krahn areas like Grand Gedeh County. The August and September fighting in Lofa County created a new group of displaced and disrupted assistance programs for IDPs and refugees. The fighting displaced more than 25,000 civilians, many of whom are living in school buildings, clinics and other public structures. The immediate needs of the displaced include food, shelter, safe drinking water and latrines. WFP has begun distributing emergency food aid to the 25,000 displaced. In addition, some of the 35,000 Sierra Leonean refugees living in Lofa County were reportedly shot during the fighting and many were suffering from acute food shortages. Close to 10,000 Sierra Leonean refugees fled northern Lofa County to areas further south such as Vahun and Targbe. UNHCR receive permission from the LRRC on September 21 to relocate Sierra Leonean refugees from Lofa County to Camp Sinje in Cape Mount County, which already hosts 8,0000 refugees but has the capacity to accommodate 20- 25,000 people. Agriculture Production of the national staple crop, rice, fell during the civil war to as low as 90,000 MTs, about 23% of the total national food requirement. The displacement of farmers to refugee and displaced persons camps led to the loss of their seeds and farm tools. Returning refugees and IDPs are finding that traditional sources of income, such as mining, lumbering, and rubber farming, were greatly reduced. In addition, due to the lack of urban employment, many urban dwellers are returning to rural areas to farm. Consequently, the need to produce crops is greater than ever. In an effort to meet the emergency needs of farmers, seeds and tools distributions are being coordinated by the Seeds and Tools Committee which was co-funded by USAID/OFDA and includes as members USAID/Office of Food for Peace (FFP), the European Union (EU), the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNHCR, NGOs, and Liberia's Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). The Committee increased emergency distributions of seeds and tools over the last year and also provided training in improved agriculture practices, promoted community-based initiatives to develop swamps to increase rice production, and increased seed availability through local production. The Committee's work has enhanced food availability for more than 1.5 million Liberians, but will be phased out at the end of 1999 as beneficiary numbers continue to decline (the total number of beneficiaries declined from 134,000 in 1998 to 75,000 in 1999). In January 1999, the FAO reported a significantly improved overall food situation in Liberia. Rice production in 1998 was up to 70% of pre-war levels, compared to 25% in 1995, and cassava production returned to almost 100% of pre-war levels. These increases were the result of expansion in planted areas due to the return of farm families to their homes, increased yields due to greater access to NGO-supplied inputs (seeds and tools, including improved varieties of cassava seeds), and improved crop husbandry practices as more extension services became available. However, Liberia still requires food imports and food aid. Bulgur wheat and maize products (corn soya blend - CSB) continue to be distributed to vulnerable groups. USAID/OFDA funded four NGOs for agriculture programs in FY 1999: World Vision, Lutheran World Service (LWS), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and ACF. These four NGOs participated in the national Seeds and Tools Committee. Their programs distributed seeds and tools to resettling farm families and provided technical assistance to farmers through extension services and farmer field days. In addition, LWS provided training to farmers, while LWS and World Vision also managed seed multiplication activities. CRS was the lead agency for the bulk seeds and tools program. It procured seed rice, much of it from local markets, for other members of the Seeds and Tools Committee to distribute. CRS also managed food security and agricultural rehabilitation programs. USAID/Liberia plans to continue to fund CRS, LWS, and World Vision for seed multiplication and improved farming practices. The mission is also looking into promoting swamp rice technology and crop diversification. Health and nutrition At least 95% of Liberia's health infrastructure was destroyed or severely damaged by the civil war, and an estimated 90% of the population does not have access to basic health care. Due to inadequate medical services, people continue to suffer and die from preventable diseases. Certain groups, including recent returnees, households headed by women, and demobilized soldiers, are particularly vulnerable. USAID/OFDA undertook a comprehensive health assessment in Liberia in March 1997 to evaluate USAID/OFDA activities and recommend future emergency health interventions. The team reviewed medical and public health activities in eight of thirteen Liberian counties. The team found that Liberians returning to rural areas had few or no options for health care. Measles, acute malnutrition and tetanus were the health issues of greatest concerns among the rural population. In FY 1999, USAID/OFDA's health programs reactivated a network of primary health care services in nine of Liberia's counties, thus significantly improving primary health care coverage. These programs supported the Ministry of Health's priorities for the revitalization of the Liberia health sector. Activities funded included basic curative services, reproductive and maternal/child health care (MCH), training of health workers, extended program of immunization (EPI), health and hygiene education, pharmaceutical distribution, training of traditional birth attendants, reestablishing cost recovery systems, and community involvement. USAID/OFDA supported five NGOs in the health sector in FY 1999: ACF/France for nutrition, LWS, Save the Children/UK (SCF/UK), International Rescue Committee (IRC) and World Vision for primary health care. Since May 1997, with USAID/OFDA support, ACF has worked to reduce malnutrition-related mortality among the under-five population, through operating therapeutic and supplementary feeding centers, in Montserrado, Bong, Rivercress and Grand Bassa counties. In addition, ACF trained health workers in malnutrition treatment and nutritional surveillance in Montserrado, Bong, Nimba, and Grand Bassa counties. With the improved nutritional status of the population, ACF is closing down or transferring most of its feeding centers to fixed health care facilities (such as hospitals). LWS, IRC, SCF/UK, and World Vision are transitional primary health care programs. They have gone beyond emergency activities to include such activities as training of traditional birth attendants, community involvement, reestablishing cost recovery systems, sexually transmitted disease (STD) screening, reproductive health care and maternal and child health care. Along with providing health services, SCF/UK also distributed USAID/OFDA-supplied blankets and plastic sheeting to returning refugees in several counties. These NGOs operate in some of the geographic areas with the highest numbers of IDP and refugee returns and therefore acute health care needs. Food Assistance Between FY 1992 and FY 1999, USAID's Office of Food for Peace's Title II programs have provided 625,325 MTs of commodities valued at over $342 million to assist war-affected Liberians to survive serious food shortages. During the last five years, USAID/FFP's programs in Liberia have been implemented by its partners, WFP and CRS. Although FFP believes that a needs assessment should be performed before further assistance is provided, current programs are focused upon activities such as: 1) agricultural and rural rehabilitation through Food for Work; 2) educational support through Food for Education; 3) vulnerable group and therapeutic feedings; 4) food assistance to refugees, repatriating refugees, and resetlling IDPs; and 5) support to institutions providing health care through health worker incentives and institutional and training center feedings. Through these and similar activities, PL 480 Title II emergency food aid has played a significant role in increasing crop production and in rehabilitating institutions devastated during the civil war. WFP announced on July 26, 1999 that it approved $106.6 million to continue feeding Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana until they are repatriated as well as IDPs in Liberia and Sierra Leone. This WFP program will provide 173,000 MTs of food and will last from July 1999 through June 2000. WFP will also provide funding for the reconstruction of schools, roads, and bridges in Liberia, making additional areas of the country accessible to aid agencies. USG Assistance The USG's response to the complex emergency in Liberia began in 1990 and is continuing to date. In FY 1999, USAID/OFDA contributed $2,296,071 to fund health and agriculture programs. USAID/FFP contributed $10,294,500 of emergency food assistance to Liberia in FY 1999. USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) has worked in Liberia since the end of the civil war in 1996 to promote democracy in Liberia. USAID/OTI supported the reintegration of ex- combatants through employment and training opportunities, supported independent Liberian news outlets such as STAR Radio, and promoted conflict resolution by funding Search for Common Ground to manage a Liberian media production facility, Talking Drum Studio, which offers voter information, civic education, and live community drama shows. USAID/OTI also supported economic reform by funding an audit of Liberia's Central Bank. In FY 1999, USAID/OTI supported a legal and human rights expert to monitor treason trials stemming from the September 1999 incident. USAID's Mission in Liberia is assisting Liberia in its transition from relief to recovery through programs in agriculture, education, and community reintegration activities for war victims, such as child soldiers and disabled ex- combatants. In FY 1999, the USAID Mission provided $10,771,000 for training of demobilized soldiers, agricultural assistance, primary health care, disease control, and several activities to promote good governance and protect human rights. The State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) has provided funds to Liberia for assistance to Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia and for Liberian refugees returning home. In FY 1999, PRM contributed $7,789,696 for Liberian refugee resettlement USG Humanitarian Assistance in FY 1999 (to date): BHR/OFDA - Grant to ACF/F for nutritional feeding in Monrovia, Bong, Grand Bassa and Ri Grand Rivercress $ 146,823 - Grant to ACF/F for seeds and tools distribution in Grand Gedeh $ 206,950 - Grant to CRS for seeds and tools distribution in Grand Bassa, Bong, Loffa, Nimba, Margibi, Montserrado $ 848,722 - Grant to IRC for primary health care, including EPI, in Nimba $ 222,200 - Grant to LWR for seeds and tools distribution and seed multiplication in Bong and Nimba $ 118,429 - Grant to SCF/UK for primary health care, including EPI and MCH, in Montserrado, Margibi, Bong, and Lofa $ 149,555 - Grant to World Vision for health and nutrition activities in activities in Cape Mount, Bomi, and Bong $ 300,000 - Grant to World Vision for seeds and tools distribution and technical assistance in Cape Mount, Bong, Lofa and Montserrado $ 190,507 - Grant to UMCOR for seeds and tools and agriculture extension services in Margibi County $ 82,515 - Field Support Costs $ 30,370 BHR/OFDA FY 1999 Assistance (to date) $ 2,296,071 BHR/FFP - Contribution of 10,290 metric tons (MTs) of PL 480 emergency Title II commodities to CRS $ 7,111,300 - Contribution of 5,370 MTs of commodities for use in Liberia through the WFP Liberia Regional Protracted Relief Operation (PRO) $ 3,405,200 - Contribution of 2,700 MTs of commodities for use in Liberia through the WFP Coastal West Africa Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) $ 1,841,600 BHR/FFP FY 1999 Assistance (to date) $12,358,100 BHR/OTI - Support to human rights monitor $ 16,422 - Support of monetary audit of the Central Bank $ 250,000 BHR/OTI FY 1999 Assistance (to date) $ 266,422 AFR/WA - Support for democratization, including human rights protection and Liberia elections assistance $ 2,000,000 - Support to agricultural rehabilitation, cash crop production, food security and training of demobilized soldiers $ 4,000,000 - Support to health/infectious disease/child survival $ 2,771,000 AFR/WA FY 1999 Assistance (to date) $ 8,771,000 State/PRM - Support to UNHCR's program for Liberian refugees repatriation and reintegration $ 7,026,278 - Support to WFP for refugee feeding $ 250,000 - Support to ARC/Liberia $ 513,418 State/PRM FY 1999 Assistance (to date) $ 7,789,696 In FY 1999, State/PRM is contributing on an unearmarked basis, to the following programs: $26,500,000 million to UNHCR's 1999 General Appeal program for Africa and $31,200,000 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC's) 1999 Emergency Appeal for Africa. USG FY 1999 Humanitarian Assistance (to date) $31,481,289 USG Humanitarian Assistance in FY 1998 BHR/OFDA $ 8,955,337 BHR/FFP $31,300,000 State/PRM $15,536,518 AFR/WA $13,873,102 BHR/OTI $ 419,000 TOTAL FY 1998 $70,083,957 Historical Summary of USG Humanitarian Assistance TOTAL USG HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FY 1990 - 1999 (TO DATE) $639,629,720 FY 99 (to date) $31,481,289 FY 98 $70,083,957 FY 97 $45,988,448 FY 96 $76,050,769 FY 95 $57,516,990 FY 94 $76,364,167 FY 93 $87,352,584 FY 92 $69,456,785 FY 91 $88,613,780 FY 90 $36,720,951 - - - - - - - Roy Williams Director Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org appeal fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -