Liberia BULLETIN Bimonthly Published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Liberia
LibeRIA BULLETIN Bimonthly published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Liberia 1 October 2004 Vol. 1, Issue No. 4 Voluntary Repatriation Started October 1, 2004 The inaugural convoys of 77 Liberian refugees from Sierra Leone and 97 from Ghana arrived to Liberia on October 1, 2004, which marked the commencement of the UNHCR voluntary repatriation. Only two weeks prior to the beginning of the repatriation, the County Resettlement Assessment Committee (CRAC) pro- claimed four counties safe for return – Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Gbarpolu and Margibi. The first group of refugees from Sierra Leone is returning to their homes in Grand Cape Mount. UNHCR is only facilitating re- turns to safe areas. Upon arrival, returnees have the option to spend a couple of nights in transit centers (TC) before returning to their areas of origin. At the TC, they received water, cooked meals, health care, as well as a two-months resettlement ration and a Non- Signing of Tripartite Agreement with Guinea Food Items (NFI) package. With the signing of the Tripartite Agreements, which took place in Accra, Ghana, on September 22, 2004 with the Ghanian government and in Monrovia, Liberia, on September 27, 2004 with the governments of Si- erra Leone, Guinea and Cote d’Ivorie, binding agree- ment has been established between UNHCR, asylum countries and Liberia. WFP and UNHCR held a regional meeting on Septem- ber 27, 2004 in Monrovia and discussed repatriation plans for Liberian refugees and IDPs. WFP explained that despite the current food pipeline constraints, the repatriation of refugees remains a priority for the Country Office.
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