Aid agencies brace for massive refugee flows from Ivory Coast
Aid agencies are preparing for an influx of a quarter of a million refugees fleeing across the border to escape the bloody violence unleashed by the struggle for power in Ivory Coast.
People try to get into a bus in Abidjan. An estimated one million people have already fled their homes in Ivory Coast Photo: REUTERS
By Aislinn Laing, Africa Correspondent 6:44PM BST 04 Apr 2011
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said many people would walk for up to five days to cross the border, and predicted that the numbers could peak to 250,000 around June.
Oxfam has warned that many of the 100,000 people who have already crossed the country's western border into Liberia are living with scarce food and sanitation supplies in remote jungle areas which will be cut off when the rainy season starts.
An estimated one million people have already fled their homes in Ivory Coast to escape the fighting, which was prompted by disputed elections in November and has intensified in recent weeks as the forces of Alassane Ouattara, the internationally-recognised victor, took on those of Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent.
Olivier Germain, an Oxfam representative based in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, said the numbers crossing the border had increased in recent days, and many were "very traumatised" after seeing their villages occupied by armed groups.
"There's a strong belief that a lot of people are still on their way or hiding in the forest over the border and haven't crossed yet," he said. "We have contingency planning for a much higher number - it's a very unpredictable situation."
Kristalina Georgieva, the European Union's head of aid, said she was "alarmed" by reports of manhunts and ethnic killings and appealed to both sides to act.
"History has given us far too many detailed examples of the scale of humanitarian disaster that results when violence is not stopped decisively," she said.
Telegraph.feedsportal.com
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