The Executive Director of the Liberia Returnee Network is calling on Liberians, government ministries and agencies as well as local and international organizations to assist Liberians, who are stranded in exile, to come home. According to Director E. Tyrone Marshall, more than 10,000 Liberians have been stranded in Guinea, Ghana and Nigeria as a result of the civil war in Liberia.
He noted that many of them are people who fled the war in 1990 to seek refuge in these countries, and they have grown older without no connection of relatives or family member back home.
He stated that the Liberia Returnee Network has been advocating to ensure that they return home, but they explained that some of them do not have relatives or friends to come home to, and the Liberian government does not have any program yet for people who have been stranded in exile over the years.
Director Marshall made the disclosure Tuesday in an exclusive interview with journalists as the institution solicits assistance from Liberians and international organizations in kinds and cash to facilitate little packages for their return home.
He described their situation in exile as terrible, but if they can get the needed assistance to come home it will go a long way in transforming their condition.
He asserted that some of them were teenagers when they left with their parents for exile, but unfortunately their parents died and they have had no link to relatives over the years; they do not know how to come home.
Director Marshall emphasized that, if people can make building materials available, along with other useful items to provide decent homes for them, it will help the process in getting many of them home.
He expressed thanks and appreciation to Liberians in exile for the reception of other Liberians who fled their nation for refuge.
It can be recalled that on December 24, 1989 the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFF), headed by then rebel leader, Charles Taylor, launched a civil war against the late President, Samuel K. Doe.