By William Selmah wselmah@gmail.com
Latest UNHCR fact sheet released on Liberia shows that there are a total of 11, 263 refugees living in Liberia up to date, with the vast majority of them from the Ivory Coast, accounting for 10,793.
Sixty three of the remaining refugees are of various nationalities, while 33 are asylum seekers. Others are protracted Sierra Leonean refugees numbering up to 374.
“UNHCR conducted a verification exercise targeting the 374 former Sierra Leonean refugees living in Monrovia to verify their current situation. 95 families of 323 individuals were verified, while 11 families of 35 individuals were ‘no show’ and 5 death cases were recorded”, it disclosed.
According to the fact sheet, the UN refugee agency still maintains camps in Bahn, Nimba County, PTP in Grand Gedeh County, Little Wlebo in Maryland County and communities in River Gee County, all in the southeast of the country.
It said 32 teachers are supported by the UNHCR in Bahn High Extension, Tchien Public School and the Little Wlebo Extension Elementary School.
At a recent meeting with Education Ministry authorities, the agency said Education Minister Professor Ansu Sonii, agreed to retain the 12 teachers placed on the government payroll in the concerned schools.
“407 birth certificates have been distributed with refugee parents from January – April 2018,” according to the UNHCR.
The UN refugee agency has meanwhile spoken of a funding gap of US$11.6 million for its operations in Liberia.
In a separate development, the UNHCR says Liberia has seen a surge in cases of homicide mainly within the Monrovia belt. In its context highlights quoting reports, it said “April 2018 has recorded 14 incidents of homicide across Liberia, including a reporter, mostly committed by youth population.
The majority of the incidents occurred in Monrovia, where there is a high presence of police”, according to the highlights.