Liberia, Ghana Prepare Camps for Ivory Coast Refugees Fleeing Vote Crisis
Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) --- Liberia and Ghana are preparing for an influx of refugees fleeing political unrest in neighboring Ivory Coast, officials from the governments of the West African nations said.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf agreed to set up a camp for refugees in Karnplay Town, with international agencies providing aid, Whetonia Barnes, the executive director of the Liberia Refugees, Resettlement and Repatriation Commission, told reporters yesterday in the capital, Monrovia.
About 16,000 Ivorian refugees have crossed the 500- kilometer (311-mile) border since November, the Liberian government has estimated.
Ghana has dispatched officials to register potential Ivoirian refugees and has made preparations to host as many as 10,000 in a number of camps near its western border, Nicholas Mensah, spokesman for the country’s National Disaster Management Organization, said in a phone interview yesterday.
Ghana hosted about 5,000 refugees during Ivory Coast’s civil war in 2004 and 2005. Only 21 people have fled to Ghana during the current crisis, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Political unrest since disputed elections on Nov. 28 have claimed at least 173 lives in Ivory Coast, according to the UN, which declared Alassane Ouattara winner of the vote. Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has refused to step down as president of the world’s top cocoa producer.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ansu Konneh in Monrovia via Accra at ebowers1@bloomberg.net; Jason McLure in Accra at jmclure@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
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