Dozens of Ivorians return home under UN auspices

Several dozen Ivorian refugees in Liberia returned home on 8 November 2013 under the auspices of the UN and affiliated NGOs. This was the 20th convoy of refugees returning home within the framework of a voluntary repatriation operation in 2013 and involved 236 persons including 117 women from 53 families.

Besides the UN handling of the repatriation, the Police and Niger battalion of the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), in particular, have been providing security escort for the convoys transiting through Tabou to the respective final destinations of the refugees.

At the Tabou transit centre, they were welcomed by the Coordinator of the UN System in Tabou and head of the local office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) who told the returnees that they were on the road to a successful national reconciliation process.

"On behalf of the UNHCR Representative in Côte d'Ivoire and the entire UN System, we say - which means welcome in the local language. By freely deciding to return home, you have boosted the ongoing peace and reconciliation process. Your country is on the move and has been waiting for you, its sons and daughters for its reconstruction," the local coordinator said.

The secretary-general of the Prefecture, Ouattara Fangayerba, who was representing the Prefect, spoke in the same vein and assured the returnees that henceforth security reigns in the country. He urged them to encourage other refugees to return from exile remarking that the state and its international partners had made considerable efforts to ensure their security.

Food items including rice and cooking oil and none food items such as buckets, blankets, kitchen utensils and tents as well as a cash grant of FCFA 70,000 for each adult and FCFA 50,000 for each child, were distributed to the families before their departure for their home villages.