Ecomil troops managed to deploy outside Monrovia at the end of last week, but renewed fighting between Liberian government troops and the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) delayed the deployment planned for Kakata, 60 km north of Monrovia. Although security remains volatile in several rural areas, displaced Liberians who sought refuge in Monrovia at the height of the fighting have started to move back to the Montserrado camps. People staying in schools in Monrovia have been asked to vacate the premises for the resumption of classes in October.

The ICRC is currently focusing on protection and assistance activities to help both displaced people and residents in Monrovia and the neighbouring counties of Montserrado, Bong, Margibi, Grand Bassa and Bomi. In order to extend its programmes, a new sub-delegation will be opened in Zwedru in the coming weeks.

Since the beginning of June, 126 tonnes of humanitarian material, mainly air-freighted from Europe, have enabled the ICRC to assist the worst affected without interruption. From 13 September, five DC8 aircraft carrying 150 tonnes of food and basic items will be flown in from Freetown (Sierra Leone) to Monrovia.

At present, the ICRC has a team of 33 expatriates and works with over 400 local staff and volunteers from the Liberian National Red Cross Society.

Shelter and food (maize flour) have been provided to Blamacee, Plumkor and Seighbeh camps (Montserrado county) for about 2,000 families. Three transit centres to host 900 people have been built in Tumutu (Bong county). Orphanages hosting over 500 children in central Monrovia have been supplied with high protein biscuits.

In Conneh camp (Margibi county) over 2,000 people have received tarpaulins and items of basic necessity, as have 30 families located in the YMCA youth centre of the same county.

Further material assistance has been organized for 200 displaced families in Harbel's settlements. A three-month emergency agricultural project for displaced families in Blamacee, Plumkor, Ricks and Wilson Corner camps is now under way. It aims to provide supplementary vegetables (potato, palava, water greens and okra) to returning people.

At the end of August, health activities resumed in Blamacee clinic, where around 70 patients are screened daily. In Tubmanburg, medical personnel working in the LURD health centre have been trained in first aid and wound-dressing techniques. They have also been provided with the appropriate dressings and essential drugs.

Further dressing sets and essential drugs have been provided to a clinic in Buchanan. Bong Mines hospital has been supplied with drugs and dressing materials. Most patients are coming from Totota and Salala camps for the displaced. Some malnourished children have been transferred to Monrovia for treatment. The ICRC/JFK hospital is currently treating an average of 114 patients. Every week, around 80 operations are carried out.

The ICRC is providing 80,000 litres of drinking water daily in 20 urban settlements for the displaced in Monrovia. Construction and/or maintenance of latrines, bathhouses and washrooms in the main displaced camps have been resumed. Health and hygiene education is being provided for several thousand displaced people still gathered at SKD football stadium. Water and sanitation activities have also resumed in Montserrado, Bong and Margibi camps.

The distribution of Red Cross messages has started again in Monrovia, Buchanan, Tubmanburg, Harbel, Montserrado, Margibi and Bong camps. Radio stations have been used to inform the public about this service, while flyers have also been distributed in public places. Tracing offices have been reopened in Montserrado camps, with the registration of unaccompanied children as one of their top priorities. Names of separated family members are broadcast on radio stations every day.

Food and and other urgently needed materials have been provided to the Liberian national police headquarters, where the ICRC is visiting a number of prisoners.

Dissemination sessions are held at checkpoints along the roads to Tubmanburg and Buchanan, in order for the ICRC's work to be better understood and accepted by militias.