The US State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and
Migration (PRM), has contributed US$ 750,000 to IOM to facilitate
the voluntary repatriation of some 3,500 Liberian refugees living
in Ghana. It follows an earlier US$ 350,000 PRM contribution.

The US funding will enable IOM to organize buses to transport
refugees from the main refugee camp of Buduburam to the Ghanaian
capital Accra, from where they will board commercial and IOM
charter flights to the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

IOM’s assistance will also include carrying out
pre-departure health checks to confirm the refugees’ fitness
to travel, providing food and water during the journey, and when
necessary, providing medical escorts.

Since the first Liberian civil war (1989-1996), Ghana has been
hosting thousands of Liberian refugees at Buduburam, located 44 km
west of Accra. Other Liberian refugees fled to Krisan refugee camp
in south-western Ghana. The second civil war in 1999 brought more
Liberian refugees to the camps and their numbers further increased
following the civil unrest in Cote d’Ivoire in 2002.

At the height of the conflict in the 1990’s, Buduburam was
home to 38,000 Liberian refugees.  The majority have been
repatriated or resettled to a third country, but there are still an
estimated 10,000 refugees in the camp.

Since 20th April 2012, IOM has helped 1,865 Liberian nationals
to voluntarily return home, in a close cooperation with UNHCR,
UNMIL, and Ghana’s Refugee Board, Immigration and Health
Services departments. Another 126 former Liberian refugees were
repatriated to Liberia on 12 and 13 August.

For more information, please contact

Dyane Epstein

IOM Ghana

Tel: +233 302 701 2051/+233302 742931

Email: "mailto:depstein@iom.int">depstein@iom.int