"There are numerous reports documenting gross and systematic human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, torture, sexual violence and abuse, disappearances, and arbitrary detention under extremely harsh conditions," a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers said in Geneva.
Lubbers made an earlier appeal for a military intervention in mid-May when on a mission to Liberia and four other west African states.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) decided on Wednesday to send to send "urgently" a Nigerian force of 1 300 troops to Liberia but the date of their despatch will not be fixed until next week.
"UNHCR's compound in Monrovia is now jammed with more than 800 desperate and hungry refugees and displaced. Every available space is taken in the compound, which has also been hit by stray gunfire," the UNHCR spokesperson said.
"Even members of our own staff are now displaced, with three of them reporting yesterday that they had lost everything but the clothes on their backs after their homes were looted," he said.
"The fate of thousands of displaced people in other parts of the country also remains unknown. They have been without basic assistance for months following the suspension of most aid operations because of insecurity".
According to a World Health Organisation spokesperson 250 people, all civilians, have been admitted to hospital in Monrovia since July 19 with wounds and 84 of them have died.
About 1,950 cases of cholera have been identified and there are fears that some people who need medical treatment cannot get to clinics and may die as a result. – Sapa-AFP.
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