Relief conditions in Cote d’lvoire still critical: Agencies

still critical while displaced people have been returning home elsewhere, notably in Abidjan.
An estimated 200 000 people are still displaced inside the country, mainly in the west, while another 177 500 Ivorians are registered as refugees in West Africa, including 160 000 in neighbouring Liberia.
“The humanitarian situation in Cote d’lvoire is still alarming for tens of thousands of civilians despite improved security across the country,” said Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the situation around western areas close to Liberia “remains critical” with “acute” needs.
Some 27 000 displaced people are still crowded into a Catholic church compound in the western town of Duekoue, according to the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Seurt said the presidential conflict had unravelled painstaking attempts over the years to diminish ethnic tensions in the west, pointing to the trail of destruction and deserted homes around Duekoue, Guiglo and Toulepleu.
“Today there’s a dual problem: we have to assist those who have left their homes, they need assistance so that they return, but we also need to reinforce the government’s capacity to rebuild and restore social life.” – AFP.