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Empowering Ivorian refugees for eventual return
24 Mar 2005 Life is not easy for thousands of Ivorian refugees in war-torn Harper in Liberia. Infrastructure has been destroyed, and schools and health facilities are in short supply. UNHCR and its partners are helping them and their local hosts become more self-reliant through community empowerment projects. -
Countdown for Angolan repatriation
23 Mar 2005 UNHCR's largest operation in southern Africa is drawing to a close in the next few months as the last of Angola's refugees return home from the region. Starting next year, the refugee agency will focus on reintegration activities to help these returnees to settle back in their war-devastated homeland. -
Biggest convoy to date heads back to Lofa county, Liberia
21 Mar 2005 More than 300 Liberian refugees have returned in the first and biggest UNHCR convoy from Sierra Leone to Lofa county, Liberia's largest area of return. The journey will take five days until a more direct route is opened. -
UNHCR opens Liberia's first environment centre
16 Mar 2005 The UN refugee agency has opened the first environment centre in Liberia in a bid to ensure that mass refugee returns do not have a negative impact on an environmental already damaged by 14 years of civil war. -
Ferry tale comes true for Liberians returning to Maryland county
10 Mar 2005 Two years after it was damaged in the Ivorian conflict, a ferry linking southern Côte d'Ivoire and south-eastern Liberia has been repaired and successfully tested as Liberian refugees gear up to repatriate to Maryland county in April. -
Japan donates $3m to UNHCR's peace-building efforts in Liberia
9 Mar 2005 The funds will go towards community empowerment projects, shelter and agricultural interventions, and emergency rehabilitation efforts. These are all part of UNHCR's peace-building project to promote peaceful co-existence in areas of return. -
Refugees from Angola's Cabinda enclave cautious about returning
7 Mar 2005 Refugee leaders who fled Angola's oil-rich enclave of Cabinda during the separatist conflict recently went back home on a "go-and-see" visit to assess whether conditions were suitable for them to return. But after a three-day trip, the leaders said they would be reluctant to return unless conditions improved. -
Tensions in Côte d'Ivoire affect UNHCR refugee registration
3 Mar 2005 Refugees are expressing security fears and the U.N. refugee agency is temporarily limiting staff movements in western and northern Côte d'Ivoire following clashes earlier this week between pro-government militias and rebels near the western town of Man. -
Most of Liberia now declared safe for return
28 Feb 2005 In Liberia, 14 out of a total of 15 counties have now been declared safe for the return of refugees and IDPs. On Monday, Sinoe County got the green light for returns, leaving just Grand Kru County waiting for the safe declaration. Across Liberia, refugees are taking the opportunity to return home, sometimes to surprise welcomes.