GENEVA, Switzerland, March 26 (UPI) -- The U.N. refugee agency said Friday it is scrambling to provide emergency aid to Liberian displaced persons attempting to return to homes in unsafe areas.
"The worrying aspect of this trend is that many of these spontaneous returnees end up displaced inside Liberia," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Kris Janowski told reporters in Geneva. He said more than 5,000 returnees from Sierra Leone were at a way station in Monrovia and in nearby displaced persons camps.
Janowski said spontaneous returns are expected to peak in the coming months and continue at a high level during the first months of next year in the run-up to presidential elections.
UNHCR plans to help the return and reintegration of an estimated 320,000 refugees and 300,000 camp-based internally displaced people this year, pending the full deployment of U.N. Mission in Liberia troops and improved security and access in the areas of return.
