Aid agencies are warning that the latest round of fighting in Liberia is making it difficult to get food and medical supplies to the many thousands of refugees in Liberia. Over the weekend, fighting in the capital spread to the Samukai area, engulfing a camp that hosted more than 3,500 Sierra Leonean refugees. UNHCR staff say a large number of the refugees fled the camp ahead of the rebel advance. Millicent Mutuli is a spokesperson for the UNHCR in Geneva. She told VOA English to Africa reporter Josephine Kamara that there is little information on the whereabouts of the refugees.
Ms. Mutuli says they had been registered for an emergency evacuation to Sierra Leone originally scheduled for July 20th. But this latest round of fighting, which broke out on July 18th, dashed all plans for what would have been the fifth shipload of evacuees to Sierra Leone. Ms. Mutuli says the security situation in Liberia has made it extremely difficult for UNHCR and other aid agencies to function in Monrovia.