If all goes well, several Liberian refugees residing in neighboring countries, including Senegal, will return home after years of refuge in these nations due to the fourteen years of civil upheaval in their native land, which displaced many and claimed 250,000 lives.
This disclosure was made by E. Tyrone Marshall, Founder/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Liberia Returnee Network (LRN), a non-for-profit organization that coordinates the affairs of Liberian returnees upon their return from refugee camps and ensures they are reunited with their families and relatives in the country.
Marshall made the revelation in an overview he gave to the Liberia Returnee Network on February 24, 2022 when the network’s “home-back-home” campaign was formally launched by one-time Nimba County superintendent, Christiana Daugadu, in Monrovia.
According to LRN Founder/CEO, neighboring Guinea hosts 8,000 Liberian refugees; Ghana, 14,000; Ivory Coast, 27,000; and Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1,000. He did not give the actual number of Liberian refugees currently resident in Senegal.
Of the 1,000 refugees in Nigeria, Marshall indicated that the Nigerian government, due to several discussions with the LRN leadership, has consented to underwrite the repatriation cost of about 300 Liberians, including men, single mothers and children, when the organization’s pending construction of structures to accommodate the repatriated are completed.
He said Liberian refugees in these countries have suffered, lost their families, and when brought back home may even have nowhere to stay.
According to him, this is why the LRN, a conglomeration of refugees who have returned to begin new lives, was established to bring back home their fellow citizens.
He extolled McDonald Wento, a businessman/politician who donated about eight (8) trucks to the network to assist transport Liberian refugees from Guinea, Ghana, Ivory coast, Nigeria and Senegal, while giving special thanks and appreciation also to T. Nelson Williams, and the ambassadors of Guinea/Ghana accredited to Liberia who promised to make sure that the LRN, religious community, musician union and well-meaning Liberians, achieve their program objective.
Marshall said the “home-back-home” campaign was birthed in 2019 when he and his entourage visited the Ghana refugee camp and, in 2020, did a documentary, “The Forgotten Generation of the Remaining Liberian Refugees”, and screened it in the auditorium of the University of Liberia. In the documentary, Liberians craved LRN to seek support to bring them back home.
Already, Marshall revealed that the network has purchased 10 acres of land in Bong County for the construction of 27 housing units to host Liberian refugees upon their return to Liberia several months from now.
Marshall used the occasion to call on Liberians and well-meaning individuals to see reason to be their brothers’ keepers by supporting the program activities of Liberia Returnee Network as it strives to repatriate Liberian refugees under the “home-back-home” campaign.
In brief remarks, Maria Luyken, head of West African Children Support Network (WACSN), reaffirmed her support to the organization in bringing back home Liberian refugees from neighboring countries, while Adama K. Dempster, SG, Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform, who was represented by Marian G. Deah, Executive Director of Restore Their Hope Liberia, said he is in the advocacy of LRN, as there would be no turning back until all volunteer Liberian refugees are resettled back home and have a reunion with their families and relatives here.