Seven months after the end of the post electoral crisis in Cote
d’Ivoire, hundreds of families who sought refuge in camps in
the west of the country, are finally returning home with IOM
assistance.

On 16 November 2011, IOM in coordination with government
authorities and partner agencies carried out the first organized
return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from a displaced
centre in the western town of Duékoué to surrounding
villages.

A first IOM convoy of 103 families (459 individuals) left the
overcrowded Catholic Mission holding centre in
Duékoué for various nearby communities. Other returns
are planned over the next few days, with the remaining families
scheduled for relocation in a nearby camp in Nahibly.

Up to 25,000 IDPs sought refuge in and around the Catholic
Mission in Duékoué at the peak of the conflict.
Currently, an estimated 17,000 displaced persons are still living
in camps throughout Cote d’Ivoire, in addition to thousands
of others who are staying with host communities.

Security improvements in the region have encouraged many
displaced persons to consider returning to villages, with many
families excited at the prospect of returning home.

"I think I will do better by returning to my village," one of
the returnees told IOM. "Life in the camp has been good because it
has provided us with security. Now things are better, I need to go
home and re-build my life for the sake of my children."

Residents of other IDP camps in Western Cote d’Ivoire who
are willing to return to their villages will be assisted by IOM and
its partners to do so.

Over the past weeks, IOM has organized several "go-and-see
visits" for IDPs who saw that living conditions in their home
villages had steadily improved. On their return, they shared
information with those who stayed back in the camps. This
information helped them in their decision to return or not.

However, many families are still too frightened to return
immediately, though they intend to do so at a later date. Some say
they will have nowhere to stay because their houses were destroyed
during the conflict. Others are afraid of gun-carrying traditional
fighters and other armed men, while a good number fear those who
they say illegally occupied their plantations after they had
fled.

IOM is currently rehabilitating some 300 destroyed homes in some
of the worst conflict-affected areas in the west of Cote
d’Ivoire and is stocking up on non-food items, which include
plastic sheeting, mattresses, mats, kitchen sets, buckets, etc. for
distribution to families in need.

As the IDPs return, they will undoubtedly face the daunting task
of putting their lives back together. IOM will continue to conduct
follow-up missions in the areas of return, to ascertain the living
conditions, with the aim of providing the assistance that is needed
for sustainability.

In order to do this IOM will appeal to the donor community for
financial aid. The current activities are being carried out thanks
to donations from the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), the
European Union Humanitarian Assistance (ECHO), the Swedish
International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Australian
Assistance for International Development (AUSAID).

For further information, please contact:

David Coomber

IOM Cote d’Ivoire

Tel: +225 048 30 444

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