Liberia threatened by famine
2004-01-09 14:08
Monrovia - Spared from death by the bullets, thousands of Liberian war survivors face a new threat: famine. Unless something is done urgently, people will start dying of hunger soon, warn aid workers.
"The main problem is the shortage of food and medicine. People travel for miles from the displaced camp to look for food," says Edward Farkollie of the Catholic Relief Service in central Liberia.
Part of the problem, he adds, is the constant harassment and intimidation of civilians by marauding rebels in the north and south-east of the country. Heavily drugged-addicted armed men loot and vandalise villages, making it difficult for the government and aid organisations to distribute food.
More than half of Liberia's 3.5 million people are the forgotten victims of the 14-year civil war, aid agencies say.
To further compound the problem, a quarter of Liberia's population remains clustered around displaced camps near the capital, Monrovia.
Thousands others cannot be located, having vanished during the war. Most of the displaced had abandoned their farmlands in search of security.
Likewise, the condition of the over 50 000 displaced people in Liberia's northern town of Sacclepea is appalling, said their leader, Joseph Targbeh.
Many live on wild fruits. "People trek several miles to buy food for their families," he said. At least three persons die each day from malaria, dehydration and other infectious diseases, Targbeh told a private radio station in Monrovia.
According to various estimates, 60% of the displaced are women who bear the greatest burden of the war.
Most of the war survivors - once self-sufficient and self-reliant through farming and other ventures - are today languishing in displaced centres under the worst form of human degradation.
They hope to return home one day to start a new life when the guns would have been taken away from the fighters.
In less than two weeks, the peacekeepers have deployed in three major rebel strongholds in the west, central and southeast of the country.
The latest deployment has triggered discussions among the displaced people about possible plans to return to their villages and towns.
Abou Moussa, UN deputy special envoy in Liberia, said UN would advise aid workers to move into the country, begin massive relief operations and rehabilitate the infrastructure as soon as UNMIL (United Nations Military Mission in Liberia) complete the deployment of peacekeepers nationwide.