Tuesday, March 22, 2011

UPDATE: Map of the Liberian-Ivoirian Frontier and Nimba County Refugee Settlements



I've been preoccupied with other projects over the last week, but I did want to provide a slightly updated and revised map visualizing the refugee inflows to Nimba County over the last week. Mainly, I have added some indication of the general path of Pro-Ouattara forces across the area, clearly moving from the frontier deeper into Cote D'Ivoire, aiming at major towns. In addition, a Reuters report from 15 March on the refugee situation was filed from the Nimban town of Zodru, which has been added.

According to press reports, the majority of the displacement of people in the last week has been occurring in Abidjan itself, where residents are emptying the capital in the wake of shelling which has killed dozens, seeking refuge in the West and Cental parts of Cote D'Ivoire. But at the end of last week, there had been a handful of reports about the continued inundation of the Nimba County border communities with Ivoirians.

Separately, I have represented some of the movement within westernmost Cote D'Ivoire of both refugees and the Forces Nouvelles, which have been moving generally east and south. Both displaced citizens and fighting forces have been concentrating on the major towns such as Duékoué and Danane--with IDP camps being established in the same areas as skirmishes. Battling up to March 16th had been reported from Toulepleu to Duékoué, with Bloomberg reporting that Blolequin is in the hands of Pro-Ouattara forces.

Again, as with the previous draft, anyone is welcome to reprint this map under general creative commons courtesies--specifically, please just give credit to me and this blog. Additionally, please comment below or contact me if you have specific information that would augment this map and therefore make it more useful to anyone. Thanks to those intrepid journalists and hard-working organizations that are working on these front lines.

The situation within Cote D'Ivoire is deteriorating rapidly, with enormous displacements occurring over the last few days, again especially within the country but also into Liberia, Guinea, and a report out yesterday that thousands are streaming into Ghana. In the next week, if it seems appropriate to update this map, I will release a new draft.

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