IOM is today (17 January) beginning to register a group of
internally displaced people (IDPs) in Western Cote D'Ivoire with
staff already deployed to the area to provide camp management
assistance and expertise.

The group of an estimated 16,000 people displaced by
post-election violence are in Danané, Duékoué
and Man in Western Cote D'Ivoire. The majority are in a Catholic
mission in Duékoué and comprise mainly women and
children. Several agencies are currently working to provide
humanitarian assistance to the group, including IOM, which in
addition to registering the displaced, is also organizing a hosting
site for them. A distribution of non-food items from the
Organization's remaining stock in the country is scheduled in the
coming days.

The assistance is part of IOM operations now underway in Cote
D'Ivoire and surrounding countries to help internally displaced,
refugees and migrants affected by the crisis in the West African
country, in collaboration with authorities, the United Nations (UN)
and other partners.

Tomorrow, IOM will transport a group of 52 Ivorian refugees to a
refugee camp in Guinea at the request of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR). They will be taken from the Boussou Transit
Centre on the Guinea-Cote D'Ivoire border to the Kouankan 2 refugee
camp in the Forestière region of Guinea some 180 kilometres
away. The refugees, with IOM and Red Cross medical and Guinean
police escort, will be taken to the camp by bus. Last week, IOM
helped 82 Ivorian refugees in a similar operation to Kouankan
2.

Also at the request of UNHCR, IOM will be assisting a group of
652 people, mainly Guineans who have returned from Cote D'Ivoire,
to go to their areas of origin. The group are currently in Beyla
town in south eastern Guinea.

A joint IOM/UNHCR mission travelled to the area at the weekend
to register the returnees and to assess the situation as Beyla
Prefecture is reported to be overwhelmed by the numbers of
returnees and refugees that have crossed into the territory.

Late last week, IOM and UN partners carried out a joint
assessment of various points on Cote D'Ivoire's borders with Mali
and Ghana. Two possible sites at Faragouaran and Zantiebougou in
Sikasso Region and Bougouni Cercle in Mali are being assessed for
receiving and assisting potential Malian returnees.

IOM has been formally requested by Burkina Faso, Mali and
Liberia to assist their nationals to return to their respective
home countries if the situation escalates with the Organization
working with national disaster agencies in all five surrounding
countries including Guinea and Ghana to assist in the reception and
reintegration of returning nationals from Cote D'Ivoire.

Preparations are underway to help tens of thousands of migrants
in Cote D'Ivoire to return to their homes in the five neighbouring
countries, all of whom will need reception and reintegration
assistance upon arrival. In a worst case scenario, estimates for
possible returns include 200,000 to Burkina Faso, 150,000 to Mali,
50,000 to Guinea, 25,000 to Liberia and 20,000 to Ghana.

The Organization is urgently appealing for an initial USD 3.5
million to carry out its operations to register and assist the
displaced in western Cote D'Ivoire; help up to 25,000 Liberian
nationals to return home; track and assess the needs of mobile
people including stranded migrants and third-country nationals
inside Cote D'Ivoire; train border guards in Burkina Faso, Mali,
Guinea and Ghana on protecting migrants and to help Ivorian
refugees and Guinean migrants with medical and transport assistance
to Guinea.

For further information, please contact:

Jean Philippe Chauzy

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 79 285 4366

       + 41 22 717 9361

E-mail: "mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int

or

Jemini Pandya

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 22 717 9486

       + 41 79 285 4366

E-mail: "mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int