Refugees – 2001

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Repatriation of refugees and resettlement of IDPs gained momentum in 2001. According to the Secretary General’s report on UNAMSIL, there were an estimated 510,000 refugees, with some 200,000 in Guinea and Liberia. There were 247,590 IDPs within Sierra Leone.1

Refugees – 2000

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At the government’s invitation, the RUF coordinator for humanitarian affairs was integrated into the NCRRR. UNHCR projects the return to be as many as 108,000 out of 450,000 in 2000 if the security situation improves. It was reported that a small number of Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia returned to Pujehun.2 During the remainder of the year, progress in reparations was hindered due to continued fighting. When major violence erupted on the Guinean border in early September 2000, the Sierra Leonean Government assisted the repatriation of more than 20,000 Sierra Leonean refugees.3

Refugees – 1999

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The specific date of the establishment of National Commission for Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (NCRRR) is not available. However, the Ministry of National Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction was created in April 1996 and it ran a program on Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction to address, “the short-term needs of demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants, resettlement of displaced people and refugees, and restoration of basic social services, as well as the medium-term reconstruction necessary to lay the foundation for long-term growth and development.”4

According to the Secretary General’s September 1999 report on UNAMSIL, there were about one half million refugees in neighboring countries and repatriation had not commenced as of September 1999. The UNHCR was unable to reach many areas of origin of refugees and IDPs to assess whether conditions were good enough to their return.[fn]”Secretary General’s Report on UNAMSIL,” S/1999/1003, September 28, 1999.[/efn_note]