Today in Liberia, more than 22,000 refugees have fled the Ivory Coast in fear of the breakout of Civil War in their country for asylum in the neighboring country of Liberia. The Economist article "Fear of Contagion; Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia" speaks of the recent surge of refugees across the "porous border" between the two distraught nations. In fear of another civil war, Ivorians have left their country to try to find safety in another but if this rush persists, the protection may not hold. People look back to events that occurred in the 90s between Sierra Leone and Liberia as a warning of what may once again reoccur. Tensions in both of those countries "oozed across the borders in the 1990s" causing civil war and the atrocities that came with it.
With old Liberian political parties like Charles Taylors' National Patriotic Front of Liberia and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) reviving in order to get involved in today's conflict, many are scared to see how these rebel groups plan to take action in regards to the current strife in the Ivory Coast. Gunmen from Liberia are apparently crossing the border to participate in the violence in their neighboring country while innocent Ivorians are fleeing their homes to avoid the possible brutalities of war. Only seven years since the end of the Second Civil War in Liberia, the peace is still a fragile one and can easily be disrupted by the nearby hostilities that Liberian rebel groups are trying to engage in.
We are unsure of what is to come but with an influx of Ivorian refugees seeking shelter everyday and more Liberians getting involved, the outcome may be disastrous for the recovering nation.
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