Against the backdrop of continuing security concerns, IOM has
started to provide return assistance to Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) in western Cote d’Ivoire.

An initial group of some 45,000 will be assisted over the next
month to return to their villages and communities in the western
towns of Zouen Hounien, Bin-Houyé and Blolequin. This group
is part of the estimated 150,000 persons who were displaced by
recent post-election violence in the west of the country and were
identified in a recent joint assessment mission carried out by IOM,
UNHCR, OCHA and United Nations Evaluation and Coordination Team,
UNDAC.

IOM staff on the ground in the region say that although security
has returned to some areas in the west of the country, many IDPs
are still reluctant to return to their villages and plantations,
fearing reprisal attacks from armed groups.

"Many areas are still only accessible under armed escort which
represents serious challenges to humanitarian workers," says
Jacques Seurt, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Cote
d’Ivoire.

Working jointly with UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF and other local and
international organizations, IOM will provide transportation and
pre-departure health checks.

IOM staff will also accompany the returnees to ensure their safe
arrival at their final destinations. Due to the onset of the rainy
season, IOM is now identifying suitable routes for light-weight
trucks that will take the returnees home.

The first movement is scheduled to take place later this week
and will involve about 800 IDPs from two sites near Zouan-Hounien
and Bin-Houyé.

However, most of the 27,000 IDPs who have been sheltering in the
Catholic mission in Duékoué refuse to return to their
villages in fear for their lives or because their homes have been
taken over by those who chased them away.

Despite increased humanitarian assistance, the vast majority of
the displaced in Duékoué continue to live in
extremely overcrowded conditions, with many women and children
living in the open air.

Working with the local authorities, IOM has identified land and
is in the process of establishing a new camp to ease the congestion
at the Catholic mission as well as hiring more local staff to
provide additional assistance to the displaced.

"Every day reveals more needs, especially among those people
trickling out of forests where they had been," says IOM’s
Jacques Seurt. "Although we’re seeing some limited returns,
the vast majority of the displaced will require sustained
assistance over the coming weeks and months. IOM will support all
reconciliation efforts that are crucial to sustainable
returns."

Meanwhile, in Ghana, IOM staff say there has been a decrease in
the numbers of people fleeing Cote d’Ivoire in the past week.
At its peak, between 12th to 26th April, more than 130 people were
crossing into Ghana every day, mostly young people coming from
Abidjan’s neighbourhoods of Youpougon and Abobo, said to be
pro-Gbagbo areas.

At the Eagle Star Transit Centre located in the border area of
Elubo border town, IOM has over the past week registered 913
persons who have crossed from Cote d’Ivoire to seek safety.
The camp, which was designed to accommodate up to 400 people is
currently hosting 700 people crammed inside a few makeshift
structures. This is putting a severe strain on water and sanitation
facilities.

As of 26 April, more than 320,000 people have crossed into
neighbouring countries to escape post-electoral violence. This
includes some 150,000 Ivorians who have crossed into Liberia.

IOM had appealed for USD 41.6 million to provide urgently needed
aid to thousands escaping the violence in Côte d’Ivoire
and to avert a looming humanitarian catastrophe.

To date, the Organization has received USD 1.8 million from the
US government’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration
(PRM), the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund and from the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

For further information, please contact:

Jean Philippe Chauzy

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 22 717 9361

       + 41 79 285 4366

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