Emergency Aid to Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Sierra Leone

March 23, 1999

On March 23 (Tue.), the Government of Japan decided to extend emergency grant aid totaling 1,100,000 U.S. dollars to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), to assist refugees and internally displaced persons in the Republic of Sierra Leone.
Japan's assistance will be used in support activities for refugees and internally displaced persons in Sierra Leone, including the provision of food, transportation of food and refugees, supply of daily necessities, repairs and setting-up of water supply facilities, repairs of shelters, juvenile protection and basic medical assistance.
In Sierra Leone, President Kabbah, who had gone into exile after a military coup d'etat returned in March last year and there have been efforts to reconstruct the country with the assistance of the international community. However, a further outflow of refugees to neighboring countries has occurred because of the fierce combat between a rebel army and the ECOMOG (the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group) over the control of the capital from last December to this February. This problem of refugees as well as internally displaced persons has raised concerns about the aggravation of the country's humanitarian situation. International organizations for humanitarian aid such as the UNHCR have therefore implemented assistance activities for Sierra Leone's refugees and others, who are constrained to live in hardship.
As confirmed at the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-II) held in Tokyo in October last year, Japan has proactively participated in international endeavors for the restoration of peace and security in post-conflict African countries, including Sierra Leone, from the viewpoint that the realization of political stability in Africa is an extremely important prerequisite for its economic development. This time, Japan has decided to donate the funding from a humanitarian viewpoint, in response to a unified appeal by the UN, to contribute to achieving political stability through assistance to the efforts to improve the humanitarian situation in Sierra Leone, while also taking into account the steady follow-up of the TICAD-II.

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