On 5 June 2003 the Liberian civil war made its dramatic entry into
the capital city of Monrovia. For a week street battles raged and
the whole city was plunged into pandemonium. The worst affected area
was the western part of the city where the dissident fighters entered
the town. The internally displaced persons sheltering in that part
of the town along with the usual inhabitants had to flee.
After the retreat of the dissidents calm seemed to return, but then
on 24 June there was a renewed, more intensive attack which resulted
in extensive destruction of infrastructure and human life. People
are still moving from place to place and church compounds around Monrovia
are currently occupied by displaced persons. Dissidents and other
armed elements have paralyzed what remains of the country’s food supply
systems and warehouses have been looted. Many lives are being lost
and the rainy season is exacerbating the situation.
ACT members in Liberia Group in the ACT-Liberia Forum have made an
assessment of immediate needs and have requested support from the
ACT Alliance through the Rapid Response Fund. They intend to provide
food, clothes and medicines to 4,000 displaced families in 15 church
compounds in the city of Monrovia for one month. The amount requested
is US$ 50,000. Meanwhile, they are in the process of revising their
projects within the current AFLR-31 Appeal .
ACT members and partners participating in the ACT Forum are: the
Liberia Council of Churches (LCC), the Concerned Christian Community
(CCC), Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), United Methodist
Committee on Relief (UMCOR), World Hope International (WHI), the Presbyterian
Church of Liberia (PCL), United Methodist Church (UMC), the Christian
Health Association of Liberia (CHAL), the Lutheran World Federation/World
Service (LWF/WS), and the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL).
ACT CO urgently requests its funding members to indicate pledges
on the basis of this Alert to enable ACT CO to deal with this request
as an RRF.
