Emergency Grant Assistance for Liberia by the Japan Platform (JPF)

September 13, 2004

The Japan Platform (JPF), established in cooperation with the Government of Japan, the Japanese business community and NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations), decided on September 9 (Thu) to extend emergency assistance totaling about 110,170,000 yen funded by the government for the activities carried out by three JPF-affiliated NGOs to support full-scale repatriation of Liberian refugees and internally displaced persons in Liberia on the initiative of the UNHCR, following the first assistance prior to their voluntary repatriation between April and August this year. The details are as follows:

(1)	Adra Japan Adra Japan will repair five public schools which were damaged by conflict, and construct wells and toilets in these schools in Nimba County, to which internally displaced persons are rapidly returning. (scale of operation: 29,987,053 yen)
(2)	Peace Winds Japan Covering wider areas than the previous assistance, Peace Winds Japan will construct shelters for 500 households in Lofa County, where a large number of Liberian refugees are expected to return from neighboring Guinea. (scale of operation: 44,670,753 yen)
(3)	World Vision Japan World Vision Japan will construct or repair public toilets and wells in two districts in Grand Cape Mount County next to Sierra Leone and are predicted to have the largest numbers of returnees. (scale of operation: 35,513,628 yen)

In Liberia, the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement in August, the subsequent inauguration of the National Transitional Government in October and other developments last year brought to an end the civil war that had continued for about 14 years, and the repatriation of Liberian refugees and internally displaced persons in Liberia, who are estimated to be more than 800,000, is now beginning. It is urgently required of the international community, therefore, to extend various types of assistance to secure the basics of life for the returnees because of Liberia's critical budgetary situation caused by the destroyed life basis including its local infrastructure, agriculture and other sectors, as a result of the long civil war.

(1)

As a measure of consolidation of peace emphasized in the TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) process, Japan places particular importance on assistance to Liberia for stability in the West African region. As such, Mr. Keitaro Sato, Ambassador in Charge of Conflict and Refugee-related Issues in Africa, visited Liberia in April this year and encouraged peace consolidation there.

(2)

At the International Reconstruction Conference on Liberia held in February this year, Japan defined the following as the priority fields for the time being in its assistance for the peace process in Liberia: (a) Human security, (b) Assistance for the DDRR (Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration) Program, (c) Humanitarian assistance for refugees and returnees, (d) Assistance for the NGOs. Accordingly, Japan has steadily and positively extended assistance for Liberia's reconstruction with the Conference as a turning point through international organizations; the cumulative total of assistance from March to September is a total of about 10 million dollars. The assistance has been highly evaluated by the international community.

The aforementioned activities implemented by the JPF will realize the support policy for consolidation of peace in Liberia and are expected to enhance "greater visibility of Japanese assistance"through these activities of Japanese NGOs for conflict victims.

(END)

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