Refugees from Ivory Coast violence still in camps across the border

The United Nations announced today it has found another mass grave in the Ivory Coast, with over 60 bodies. So far, 10 mass graves have been found around the city of Abidjan. On Friday, Alassane Ouattara was sworn in as president of country, a month after former President Laurent Gbagbo was taken into custody after a months-long stand-off after disputed elections last year. During the post-election violence, hundreds of thousands of people fled the country, and tens of thousands are still in camps.

“The refugees who have taken refuge across the border in Liberia were really very anxious in terms of being able to return home,” said Noreen Lockhart, Head of Directorate at CAFOD, the English Catholic aid agency, who recently visited the camps in Liberia.

“They felt anxious from a number of different points,” she told Vatican Radio. “Both from the point of view that there was a fear of reprisals, but also in terms of what would they find when they got home. How much had their property, how much had their land, their economic situation been devastated as a result of the violence and the conflict.”

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Noreen Lockhart: