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NGO Official: Liberian Peace Threatened by Ivorian Conflict

   Anne  Goddard, CEO of ChildFund International, says Liberian President
   Sirleaf  is  also  concerned  Ivory Coast conflict threatens Liberia's
   peace

   James Butty  March 07, 2011
   Residents  of  the  Abobo district carry their belongings as they flee
   the  neighborhood  which  has  become a hub for street violence in the
   nation's ongoing political standoff, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, February
   28, 2011

Photo: AP

   Residents  of  the  Abobo district carry their belongings as they flee
   the  neighborhood  which  has  become a hub for street violence in the
   nation's ongoing political standoff, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, February
   28, 2011

   An  official  of a US-based non-profit group says her organization and
   Liberian  President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf are concerned the escalating
   violence  in Ivory Coast and the refugees it generates could undermine
   Liberiaâs fragile peace.

   The  number  of  refugees  flowing  into neighboring Liberia increased
   dramatically last week from 40, 000 to 70,000, according to UN and aid
   agencies sources.

   Anne  Goddard,  CEO  of ChildFund International has just returned from
   Liberia  where  her  organization  works  on  a  wide variety of child
   protection issues, including re-integrating former child soldiers back
   into their communities.

   Goddard  said  President  Sirleaf  is  concerned the fighting in Ivory
   Coast  could  encourage some former Liberian fighters to again take up
   arms.

   âI  did  meet  with  the  president  (Sirleaf).  She  expressed  great
   appreciation  for  our  work. She was most concerned at the time about
   the  situation  in  Cote dâIvoire and the fighting that just broke out
   that  day  in the country and, suddenly, there had been an increase of
   people crossing the border,â she said.

   Goddard   says,  even  though  Liberians  are  trying  to  return  the
   hospitality  Ivory  Coast  showed  them during Liberiaâs 14-year civil
   war,  Sirleaf  fears  the gains made toward peace could be reversed if
   the fighting continues.

   âLiberia  is  in a very fragile state, still. Itâs not that many years
   since peace came and her concern, which I agree with, is that fighting
   there (in Ivory Coast) and the great increase in refugees could really
   affect  the country and its stability right now. Because Cote dâIvoire
   had  accepted  so  many  Liberian  refugees  over the years, people in
   Liberia  were  giving  refuge  because  they  were returning the great
   support that they had gotten from Cote dâIvoire before,â Goddard said.

   She  said  her  organization  also  works  with  former child soldiers
   helping them to reintegrate into their communities.

   âWe worked with a lot of them in the early days after peace broke out.
   We helped reintegrate many children back into their communities. There
   is  concern now that some of these children have not been able to find
   jobs,  etc. and, with the conflict spilling over from Ivory Coast into
   Liberia,  these children, young adults now, could be dragged back into
   conflict again,â she said.

   Goddard  says  she was in Liberia to review her foundationâs work with
   children, particularly in the area of child protection, which she says
   began soon after the agreement ending Liberiaâs civil war was signed.

   âWeâve  increased  access  to  schools  for  many children in terms of
   helping extend school buildings so there are more schools available to
   children;  weâve  opened  what  I believe is the first early childhood
   education  program  in  the  country for children from ages 3-5 before
   they start kindergarten school,â she said.

   Goddard  also sayd her organization works on teen pregnancy, which she
   notes is caused by the breakdown of Liberiaâs social fabric because of
   years of civil war.

   âI  think, in many ways, in a country that has gone into civil war for
   so  long, the social fabric of the country really broke down and it is
   slowly  being  rebuilt,  and I think that (the) lack of social fabric,
   which  is  beginning to rebuild, means the social norms are not there.
   So,  I  think  girls  and  boys having sex before marriage is common,â
   Goddard said.

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