MANO RIVER UNION: UNHCR MOUNTS REFUGEE OPERATION, TACKLES SEX ABUSE

March 8, 2002 - The UN Refugee agency UNHCR reported on Thursday it was mounting a "complex operation" to handle the influx of refugees fleeing conflict in Liberia, help thousands of Sierra Leonean refugees returning from Guinea and Liberia, and relocate thousands more Sierra Leonean returnees staying in temporary settlements to safe home areas.

The agencyís effort started against reports that as over 10,700 Liberian refugees had arrived in Jendema, on the southeastern border with Liberia since early February, in the wake of renewed fighting between Liberian troops and the armed opposition group, the Liberians United For Reconciliation and Democracy.

The Liberian refugees are being relocated from the volatile border areas to locations farther inland and to existing temporary settlements that have housed Sierra Leoneans returning from Guinea and Liberia.

While the UN Security Council is contemplating options to better protect refugees and internally displaced people following allegations of sexual misconduct by some UN staff workers and others, UNHCR dispatched a senior official, Kamel Morjane, to the region to get a "first-hand view of efforts planned or now under way to strengthen the protection of children in refugee camps" in West Africa. Morjane, who arrived in Conakry, Guinea, on Tuesday, will conclude his visit this weekend in Sierra Leone. For security reasons, he will not travel to Liberia, UNHCR said.

A report, issued last week by UNHCR and Save The Children-UK, accused UN and local staff in charge of protecting refugees and IDPs of sexually exploiting minors. The UN Council's propositions include the creation of channels of communication to allow the refugees to raise complaints of sexual abuse to senior officials.