Twelve international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), decided to cut back drastically their relief operations in Liberia until security and order are established, the LWF said in a press release. The decision was taken "reluctantly" by officials from the NGOs at a 28 May meeting in Geneva.
The NGOs said they would provide only "targeted minimal life-saving intervention" in order not to prolong unwillingly the latest faction-fighting which broke out in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, over the Easter weekend. The action was taken "due to the repeated abuse of humanitarian principles and materials."
Much of the equipment imported by NGOs in their relief effort had been looted by different sides in Liberia's civil war "to become part of the warring factions' on-going fighting," the press release said. Since early April, agencies working in Liberia, including the United Nations (UN), have lost more than 400 vehicles as well as equipment and resources valued at US$35 million and thousands of tons of material aid.
"It is time to break a cycle of broken promises and stop contributing to the profits of the warring factions and fuelling the war," the press release said. "These extraordinary steps are being taken as a response to the total breakdown of civil society in Liberia and the risk that continued aid could result in the further degeneration of Liberia into a chaotic faction-riddled anarchic state."
The moratorium period was not specified but it will last until security is improved, the factions cease their looting and fighting, conditions allow for emergency relief, and humanitarian organisations are assured that their assistance will not be turned against the Liberian population.