Monrovia- The Government of Liberia, through its Refugee Agency, the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have commenced the closure of the Solo Refugee Camp in Grand Gedeh County, southeastern Liberia.

The decommissioning of the camp, located about 21 km to Zwedru, the Grand Gedeh County capital, started on 1 August with the symbolic relocation of four refugee families, comprising 12 individuals, to the Little Wlebo Refugee Camp in Maryland County.

The nearly 6,000 Ivorian refugees currently residing in the camp have the option to either relocate to the PTP Refugee Camp at a former Prime Timber Production site in the same county, or to the Little Wlebo Refugee Camp in Maryland County. Refugees opting for repatriation are also assisted to do so in the ongoing facilitated voluntary repatriation process.

The camp closure exercise is being done in collaboration with partners with special attention paid to vulnerable persons such as pregnant women, nursing mothers, the elderly, and persons with medical conditions. The camp closure exercise is planned to end by 31 December this year.

"Solo Refugee Camp is the third camp we are closing in the country in less than two years as a response to the Government's policy on camp consolidation. Once all refugees have moved from the camp, we will officially return the land to the host community and handover all assets we have built on it as a sign of our gratitude to the community," said the LRRRC Executive Director, Cllr. Wheatonia Y. Dixon Barnes.

Lauding the Government of Liberia for currently hosting more than 58,000 Ivorian refugees in the country, the Acting UNHCR Representative, Mr. Robert Tibagwa, said the camp consolidation effort will maximize the use of resources and therefore guarantee better protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees. "It is very costly to run a refugee camp. By closing Solo Refugee Camp in the coming months, we will remain with one refugee camp in each of the three counties we are operating, that is, Bahn in Nimba, PTP in Grand Gedeh, and Little Wlebo in Maryland.

This will enhance better humanitarian assistance," he added. Solo Refugee Camp is one of six refugee camps established more than two years ago in the wake of the Ivorian refugee influx into Liberia following post-election violence in Côte d'Ivoire. At the peak of the influx, more than 220,000 Ivorians had fled to Liberia. The Government of Liberia and UNHCR closed Ziah Refugee Camp in June 2012 while Dougee Refugee Camp was closed in March this year. Both camps were in Grand Gedeh County.