Liberians’ Cries for Help Get Louder; CWS Writes U.S. State Department
Thousands of
Liberians are being displaced due to conflict between the government and rebel
groups. Church World Service is sending
emergency goods to them, but that alone will not end their troubles.
Article appeared June
10, 2003.
New York
City – The global humanitarian agency Church World Service
today issued an urgent appeal to the United States government to help find a
comprehensive solution to Liberia’s 13-year-old civil war and to provide
generous humanitarian aid in Liberia’s increasingly desperate situation, which
has displaced hundreds of thousands of people nationwide.
In a letter to Walter
Kansteiner, U.S. State Department Undersecretary for Africa, Church World
Service Executive Director John L. McCullough cited fresh reports from Liberian
church leaders. They describe the suffering as tens of thousands more Liberians
were displaced this past weekend by fighting between government and rebel
troops that reached into the very suburbs of the capital city of Monrovia.
The Rev. McCullough
expressed his fear "that in the chaos of Monrovia...humanitarian
conditions will deteriorate and delivery of humanitarian aid will be
jeopardized, further deepening the misery of people who already have suffered
too long."
He urged the U.S.
government to press for deployment of an African stabilization force to put an
immediate end to the looting and killings; to participate actively in the
International Contact Group in helping find a comprehensive solution to the
civil war, and to "set an excellent example to the international community
by providing generous humanitarian aid both bilaterally and through the World
Food Program."
For its part, in its
latest response to emergency needs in Liberia, Church World Service last week
airlifted 1,500 blankets, 3,984 cans of processed beef, 1,000 personal hygiene
kits and 4,300 pounds of rice for distribution by two CWS partners – Concerned
Christian Community and the YMCA – to Liberians displaced by the war.
The goods arrived safely
and will be brought in from the airport as soon as security can be assured, the
Rev. Kortu K. Brown, Director of Concerned Christian Community, wrote today
from Monrovia. He indicated that at least some of the aid would be distributed
among the estimated 10,000 persons who have taken refuge in Monrovia’s main
stadium in the east of the city. Others are sheltering in open buildings,
including schools, he reported.
A similar CWS aid
shipment in mid-April helped nearly 3,600 pregnant and nursing mothers,
children and elderly in six internally displaced persons camps near Monrovia.
"Check to see if you
can send more help," the Rev. Brown wrote to CWS. Commented Donna Derr,
CWS Associate Director for Emergency Response, "Humanitarian aid providers
are having to prioritize need amongst tens of thousands of people, all of whom
are in incredibly dire circumstances."
Another report came to
CWS on Sunday from Benjamin D. Lartey, General Secretary of the Liberian
Council of Churches, who described "not only an alarming, but an
unbelievable situation" in Monrovia. "If nothing is urgently done,
Monrovia and its environs could witness a bloodbath and genocide."
Emotion jumps off the
pages of Mr. Lartey’s update to CWS and other partners. "I bring this
report to you all with a heavy heart and tears filled eyes," he wrote.
"The fighting has seriously escalated between government forces and LURD
(Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy – a rebel force).
"Hundreds of
thousands of Liberians are on the move with their belongings. We are in the
raining season, people are in the rain. Serious concern for the children! If
the present situation is not reversed, very soon food and medications will be
depleted." Mr. Lartey’s own home area was looted but his family managed to
escape to central Monrovia.
The weekend’s fierce
fighting contrasted starkly with the start of long-awaited peace talks in Ghana
on June 4. Liberia’s President Charles Taylor, addressing the opening session,
indicated his willingness to step down from the presidency by the end of the
year, but there were conflicting reports concerning under what conditions he
would do so.
Also on June 4, a United
Nations-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone unsealed its indictment accusing
Mr. Taylor of responsibility for war crimes committed by rebel forces during
the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor abruptly left the peace
talks and flew back to Monrovia, where he arrested his Vice President, Moses
Blah, accusing him of attempting a coup.
When news of the
indictment reached Monrovia, the capital city "went amok," reported
the Rev. Brown. "Human and vehicular traffic got off track in all
directions" as people ran home from fear of violence. The streets regained
some measure of calm, but then on Thursday fighting erupted in Monrovia’s
western suburbs and continued through the weekend.
In the chaos,
"Monrovia city center remained shuttered up, with no water or electricity
and all petrol stations closed," the U.N. agency Irin reported late
Monday. "The price of a 50 kg bag of rice on the black market nearly
doubled from US$20 to between $30 and $40." French special forces on
Monday airlifted more than 500 foreigners from 38 nations, among them 100
Americans, to a ship off the coast.
U.N. relief agencies have
evacuated staff and suspended deliveries of desperately needed supplies, the
U.N. news service reported today. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and the
U.N. Security Council have called for a halt to hostilities in Liberia, and a
team from the Economic Community of West African States was in Liberia today to
press for a ceasefire.
Liberian’s 2.7 million
citizens continue to pin their hopes on the peace talks in Ghana, CWS partners
reported. CWS has funded five Liberian church leaders’ participation in the
current talks, which result in large part from the persistent diplomacy of the
Inter-Religious Council of Liberia, comprising the Liberian Council of Churches
and the National Muslim Council of Liberia.
Mr. Lartey, who is at the
talks, wrote on Sunday, "We don’t know how long we will be in Ghana. What
we do know is that we shall not leave until we find a way forward to end the
crisis. Priority … is a cease-fire and the deployment of an international force
in Liberia."
"We are praying for
the peace talks," the Rev. Brown wrote today, "because Liberia can’t
afford this – thousands of people scattered all over the place walking helter
skelter trying to find lodging, food and medicare, etc." He added,
"There is a need for the churches around the world to continue to stand
with the church in Liberia. These are difficult times after about 13 years of
unabated violence. Something has to be done now to call a stop to this madness.
We count on your prayers and support."
Persons wishing to
contribute through CWS may do so by writing Church World Service, Attn.
Assistance for Liberia IDPs, Refugees, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515. Phone
pledges/credit card donations: 1-800-297-1516. On-line contributions: www.churchworldservice.org
Media
Contacts:
Carol Fouke, New York,
212-870-2252/2227; news@ncccusa.org
Jan Dragin, Boston:
781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net