Chairman of UNHCR's Executive Committee visits UNHCR operations in West Africa

Ambassador Victor Rodríguez-Cedeño of Venezuela, current Chairman of UNHCR's Executive Committee, will visit UNHCR operations in West Africa from 6 to 16 January. He will travel to Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia and Guinea, as well as to Sierra Leone, depending on the security situation there. The West African region is home to Africa's largest population of refugees and other persons of concern to UNHCR, altogether 2.1 million persons, including nearly half a million refugees from Sierra Leone and 200,000 from Liberia. UNHCR's 1999 operation in West Africa is valued at $80.5 million.