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afrol News, 5 May - A massive evacuation of Sierra Leonean refugees from an isolated and troubled area of Guinea is gaining momentum, according to a spokesman for the United Nations agency carrying out the task. Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva on friday that the agency, which has already ferried hundreds of refugees from the Parrot's Beak region to a transit camp at Katkama, will next move those people to a safer camp further inside Guinea. - Some refugees who arrived in Katkama on the first two convoys from Kolomba expressed relief at being relocated away from the border areas, noting they had regularly heard gunshots coming from the direction of Sierra Leone, he said. Refugees have also been asking UNHCR staff about schooling opportunities, food, shelter and work prospects in the new sites, which are located some 200 kilometres away from the volatile border area, he added. The Parrot's Beak, a stretch of Guinean territory that extends into Sierra Leone, has been largely cut off from humanitarian aid since last September because of fighting in the region. UNHCR's massive relocation effort, announced on 27 April, aims to shelter the Sierra Leoneans in six camps inside Guinea which have a combined capacity of 100,000 refugees. - Today, UNHCR is scheduled to transfer 796 refugees from the transit camp at Katkama on to Telikoro camp further inside Guinea, Redmond said yesterday. "UNHCR has hired locally an additional 25 trucks for the convoy operation. Thirty-five more trucks are expected before the end of the week, bringing the total trucking fleet to 85." Redmond informed that refugees, who were initially somewhat reluctant to move, now appeared more willing to do so. Some were seen preparing luggage while others sold goods at the market, presumably getting ready for the departure, he said. Meanwhile, Amnesty International reports that civilians in Sierra Leone still are being killed and injured in unlawful attacks as fighting continues along the border with Guinea. In the last two weeks military activity by Guinean security forces is reported to have affected the towns of Kassiri and Rokupr and the villages of Kychom, Rokon and Sino, all in Kambia District in western Sierra Leone. According to Amnesty, "Guinean security forces have launched indiscriminate attacks on Sierra Leone territory; little or no effort has been made to minimize the risk to civilian lives and property. Although RUF forces are present in areas attacked by Guinean security forces, artillery and helicopter gun-ship attacks do not appear to have targeted RUF bases with any degree of care and accuracy." Sources: Based on UNHCR and Amnesty International
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