The UN Commissioner for Refugees Rudd Lubbers has begun a tour of West Africa.
Mr Lubbers hopes to highlight the suffering of hundreds of thousands of refugees in the region which has been overshadowed by recent events in Iraq.
Mr Lubbers began the tour in the Ivory Coast where it is estimated a million people have fled their homes since fighting broke out last September.
In the Ivory Coast, authorities have lifted a night-time curfew first imposed eight months ago when fighting broke out between government and rebel soldiers.
The decision comes a week after a ceasefire came into effect in a bid to end the bloody civil war.
The country was thrown into chaos by a failed coup last September which grew into a full-scale rebellion, with rebels seizing control of the north of the country.
Although the country is still divided, with rebels holding the second biggest city, Bouake, and much of the north, a government of national unity was formed in March.
