Liberian Refugees Future Uncertain

LIBERIAN REFUGEES FUTURE UNCERTAIN

The Liberian civil war has ended, elections have
taken place and the
country is gradually stabilizing. Still the
status of some refugees in
neighboring countries remains uncertain, according
to the Division for
Global Mission, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA). Belletech
Deressa the division's director for development,
"It is true that many
refugees have been repatriated back to Liberia and
they have begun to
rebuild their lives, but there still are hundreds
of refugees who never
were registered with the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees. These
'undocumented' refugees remain in limbo, unable to
return to Liberia due to
lack of evidence of who they are." Deressa said,
"Funds set aside for
'official' repatriation efforts cannot be utilized
for these refugees.
Bishop Summoward Harris of the Lutheran Church in
Liberia has made an
urgent appeal to the Lutheran World Federation and
its member churches to
assist in the repatriation, especially of Lutheran
refugees. The ELCA has
designated $20,000 from International Disaster
Response to assist in the
repatriation of all "undocumented" refugees -- not
only Lutherans, Deressa
said. These funds will be channeled through
Lutheran World Federation
(LWF). The LWF is a worldwide communion of 124
member churches, including
the ELCA.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or
NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html