Oxfam warns of 'severe' humanitarian crisis in Ivory Coast

As Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara is officially inaugurated in front of heads of state from around the world, more than 300,000 people displaced from their homes within the country and in neighbouring Liberia are in "dire" need of assistance, Oxfam has warned.

The conflict in the months since the presidential election has triggered a "severe" humanitarian crisis, the aid agency warns, with only 35 per cent of the UN's appeals for funds being met.

The shortfall in donors amounts to a funding gap of $200 million.

In Ivory Coast, the relief response is only 28 per cent funded, with $120 million still needed to meet the needs of more than 200,000 people who are displaced.

They include many people whose homes and farms have been destroyed, or who are too afraid to return home.

In neighbouring Liberia, between 200 and 400 refugees continue to arrive daily from the Ivory Coast, yet the response is only 44 per cent funded.

Oxfam says at least $80 million is needed to support more than 135,000 Ivorian refugees who are still living in camps or with local families.

“The crisis is far from over,” said Oxfam’s Regional Humanitarian Coordinator, Philippe Conraud. “There is an urgent need to improve the conditions of displaced people in Liberia and Ivory Coast, and to support those returning home to rebuild their lives.

"Only with a significant increase in funding from the international community will these needs be met.

Food supplies are running especially low. In Liberia, the majority of refugees continue to live with host communities but Oxfam assessments show that many families have been eating only once per day and others are forced to eat the seeds they will need for their next harvest.

Four months since the launch of the first emergency appeal, thousands of refugees have not received food aid and the needs of local families hosting them have not been addressed, the aid agency said.

Reports suggest that the conflict significantly disrupted the last harvest in many parts of the Ivory Coast was significantly disrupted by the conflict. Others who have returned to their farms have arrived too late to plant crops for the coming year.

“Ivorian refugees continue to arrive in Liberia every day,” said Conraud. “Many of the people we speak to have spent weeks and months hiding in the forest, surviving on roots, leaves and fruit. They are arriving here tired, scared and in urgent need of assistance.

“There are many challenges ahead for the new government in the Ivory Coast but a priority has to be the urgent humanitarian needs of people who have been living in unacceptable conditions for months now.”

Oxfam has launched a response aiming to provide life-saving water, sanitation and food to more than 100,000 people in western Ivory Coast, one of the worst hit areas of the conflict, and is working in Liberia’s Grand Gedeh and Maryland regions, where over 80,000 refugees are residing.