wfn.org | Groups Limit Aid to Liberia

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3012 notes).

Note 3010 by UMNS on June 13, 1996 at 15:51 Eastern (2799 characters).

SEARCH:   UMCOR, aid, relief, Liberia, civil war

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Contact:  Joretta Purdue                    296(10-21-31-71){3010}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           June 13, 1996

UMCOR, other aid groups limit
Liberian relief as war continues

     NEW YORK (UMNS) -- The relief arm of the United Methodist
Church, together with other non-governmental relief agencies, has
expressed an intention to limit assistance to Liberia as long as
the present state of conflict continues.
     United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and other U.S.
relief organizations as well as agencies from the United Kingdom,
France, Sweden, Germany and Africa have pledged to limit their aid
to targeted, minimal, life-saving interventions.
     "The purpose of this united stance is to minimize the
opportunity for our goods and equipment to be stolen by warring
faction members and thereby contribute to the prolongation of the
conflict and suffering of innocent Liberians," explained the
groups in a joint statement issued June 12.
     It was addressed to the United Nations Security Council,
European Union, United States Agency for International Development
(AID) and the "international community at-large."
     Participating agencies have agreed to share remaining and
retrieved vehicles and equipment during this period.
     "We will neither resume nor support full operations until the
faction leaders agree and demonstrate commitment to the
Humanitarian Assistance Guiding Principles," the aid groups said.
     To achieve a resumption of aid, they:
     -- called on the international community for "a high-level
response" to stop the conflict in Liberia, citing its potential
role in regional destabilization;
     -- asked that other humanitarian agencies and private groups
"resist thoughtless interventions that may contribute to the
continuation of the violence;"
     -- requested donor countries fund full-scale operations when
the aid groups decide consensually that "the goods and materials
we bring into the country will not be used against the populations
we seek to assist." 
     The groups, which include Oxfam in the United Kingdom and
Ireland, Caritas, Medicins Sans Frontiers International, African
Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, and several
others, have agreed to mount an advocacy campaign in their
respective countries.
     "We have not and will not abandon the people of Liberia," the
organizations vowed.
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