MONROVIA, Liberia, October 25 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has facilitated the return of the first group of Ivorian refugees who have opted for voluntary repatriation from Liberia, where they sought safety during the unrest that rocked Côte d'Ivoire after presidential elections last year.
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The number of Ivorian refugees now stands at 159,000, dropping from 178,000, after completing a verification exercise. Thorough house to house checks were also carried out, which also discovered some abandoned shelters and deregistered occupants. 19,000 decrease is due to refugees who had returned to their places of origin. A total of 9000 ration cards have been handed over to UNHCR Liberia from Abidjan. These have been deregistered from UNHCR data base. During the reporting period, refugees started returning to Côte d’Ivoire in large numbers.
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Zwedru, 1 September, 2011 - The first day of September marked a new beginning for hundreds of Ivorian refugees as they relocated from host communities to begin life in six refugee camps.
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Monrovia, Liberia – On Friday, 3 June, officers of the Ukrainian Aviation Unit of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) were rewarded for their achievements in maintaining peace and stability in Liberia, and the West African sub-region as a whole. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Ellen Margrethe Løj praised the Ukrainian peacekeepers for working as “true ambassadors of peace,” noting that the Ukrainian Government responded positively to the request of the UN to support the UN Mission in Ivory Coast (UNOCI). She said this response became evident as UNOCI grappled with the post-election crisis in Ivory Coast. “Your actions contributed to the resolution of the conflict,” the SRSG told the proud Ukrainian air ambassadors as enshrined in their motto: “Take off to the sky maintaining the peace.”
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On 12 April 2011, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Recovery and Governance, Moustapha Soumaré, who is also UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Liberia led a UN humanitarian delegation to Maryland County. Accompanied by officials of the Government of Liberia, the DSRSG went to assess the recent humanitarian emergency sparked by the influx of Ivorian refugees who fled that country in search of security within the Liberian territory. This humanitarian emergency for Liberia has seen an influx of refugees exceeding 130,000 in counties bordering Ivory Coast, with Maryland, Nimba and Grand Gedeh.
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