Camp

The old bridge linking Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Emergency shelter for a family of five at the UNHCR refugee camp in Bahn.

One of the few massive trees that remain on a 250-acre lot cleared by the UNHCR to  build a refugee camp.

After weeks of effort, the UNHCR and a host of other NGOs just finished clearing a 250-acre swath of jungle and swamp in Bahn, 60 kilometers from the Liberian border with Ivory Coast. The site will serve as a camp for 15,000 refugees from neighboring Ivory Coast, who've fled their country in the wake of violence following disputed election results last November. "We're working in a non-conducive environment," said Yvan Sturm, the UNHCR's emergency coordinator. Because it's bush, we're starting from zero." The aid groups are close to finishing emergency shelter -- three buildings of eight, 16-square-meter units that will accommodate 120 Ivorian refugees they hope to truck in by mid-February. There are already 32,000 refugees in the country, with the number expected to swell to 50,000 by later this month. When the camp at Bahn is finished, it will have the capacity to hold between 15,000 to 16,000 people. So what about everyone else? Food, water and medical supplies in the Liberian villages that have been hosting the refugees are dwindling. The villagers and refugees we interviewed today said they're safe but hungry. The UNHCR says it's moving as fast as it can. It expects many of the refugees will remain where they are, close enough to the border to wait for family they still hope will come.