Thousands of Liberian Refugees to Resettle in U.S.

[LiviaOlivia]

February 23, 2004
By REUTERS

Filed at 3:50 p.m. ET

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Thousands of Liberian refugees who fled a 14-year civil war in the country founded by freed American slaves will be resettled in the United States, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Monday.

Sanda Kimbimbi, the UNHCR representative in Ivory Coast, said most of the nearly 7,000 refugees had already reached the former French colony's main city of Abidjan from the west of the country and had been put up in reception centers and houses.

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Many Liberians have long felt the U.S. had a moral duty to help end the conflict in their country. "Our parents went into slavery in America. They helped America develop. The U.S. has a moral debt to us. They shouldn't just stand by, they should take us for free," a 27-year old mother of two, who asked not to be named, said at a reception center in Abidjan.

Some 200,000 people were killed during the civil war and more than 750,000, out of a total population of 3.3 million, are estimated to have fled their homes.


http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-liberia-usa-refugees.html

[mobuto]

1. Good for the Bush Administration

Might as well congratulate them when they do things right - it might persuade them to do right more often.

I will leave the irony of the descendents of American slaves returning to the United States from Liberia aside for the moment.