Emergency Aid (through UNICEF) for Internally Displaced Persons and Others in Sierra Leone

August 18, 1998

1. On August 18 (Tue.), the Government of Japan decided to extend emergency aid totalling 340,000 U.S. dollars to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), with a view to assisting internally displaced persons and others in Sierra Leone.
      The emergency aid will be used for assistance activities in such areas as primary health care, inoculation, the provision of water, hygienic support and the care and protection of children.
   
   
2. Conditions inside Sierra Leone have been unstable: in addition to the devastation caused by the prolonged civil war, the turmoil since the coup in May last year, and in particular, the fighting in February this year between the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) troops and the junta when the former took Freetown, has destroyed the basic infrastructure in the capital and other parts of the country. This has given rise to more than 500,000 refugees and over 140,000 internally displaced and afflicted persons. Moreover, in some parts of the country, the remaining troops of the deposed junta continue to commit atrocities, creating further refugees and internally displace and afflicted persons. UNICEF and other international humanitarian organizations have been assisting these persons, who are being obliged to endure great hardship.
   
   
3. Japan, which has been taking part in international efforts for the restoration of peace and security in Sierra Leone, decided to extend this emergency aid from a humanitarian viewpoint and in response to appeals from the U.N. and other international organizations.