   |
|
afrol.com, 6 March - The relief operation for the hundred thousand people stranded in Guinea's volatile Parrot's Beak region "is gathering momentum," the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) today informed. More and more trucks are ferrying food to villages and encampments dotting the Parrot's Beak area. Meanwhile, fresh fighting is reported in the north of Liberia. The border area of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia is now a patchwork of rebel forces fighting the three governments in between of over hundred thousand refugees and internally displaced people. While humanitarian organisations have achieved a cease-fire and a "safe corridor" for the displaced trapped in Guinea's Parrot's Peak, fights are intensifying in close by areas in Liberia. The first humanitarian convoy since last autumn to deliver aid to tens of thousands of stranded refugees in the beleaguered Parrot's Beak region of southwestern Guinea arrived in the town of Temessadou Monday 26 February. This came after UN Refugees High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers personally had obtained guarantees from all involved parties that a "safe corridor" would be provided. The parties included Guinean government forces, Sierra Leonean RUF terrorists, and the Liberian government, allegedly supporting the RUF. Since then, UNHCR convoys carrying WFP food have reached nearly 29,000 people scattered in 13 villages and camps in the area. Two damaged bridges had to be repaired before convoys could begin. Those displaced reached to date are mostly Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees, but there are also nearly 6,000 internally displaced Guineans among them. "By the end of this week, relief agencies are hoping to reach Kolomba at the very tip of the Parrot's Beak," UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski today informed. The Kolomba area holds some 30,000 people who have gone without aid for months. Most of the people found in the Parrot's Peak region by the UN agency have been moved to a new camp deeper inside Guinea. A total of 17,479 refugees have been moved inside Guinea. At least one third of them are believed to be willing to return to Sierra Leone or Liberia. The situation inside Sierra Leone has become significantly calmer since the Abuja peace agreement signed in November 2000. Although the RUF still controls nearly half of the country, and UN peacekeepers still have not moved into their area, no fighting has been reported for months. Sierra Leonean refugees over the last months have been returning from Guinea at a rate of 2,000-2,500 a week, all heading for government controlled areas. An estimated 700,000 people are also internally displaced in the country, having fled the atrocities in RUF-held areas.
While the situation in Sierra Leone is getting calmer and government forces slowly are gaining the upper hand in the war against the "rebels" backed by the RUF and Liberia, Liberia itself has become the scene of fresh fighting. Government forces are reported to be battling to retake the town of Voinjama, just over the border from Parrot's Peak, which had fallen to Guinea-based rebels. Liberian troops allegedly have retaken some villages near Voinjama. The Liberian government has already accused Guinea of backing the rebels, and Defence Minister Daniel Chea today stated in Monrovia that this attack was understood as "an overt declaration of war by Guinea." Guinea has been giving refuge to member of the Liberian opposition since the civil war that brought warlord Charles Taylor to power in 1997 and was known to back forces opposite to Taylor during the war. Guinea and Liberia frequently accuse each other of backing each other's rebels. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people from the Voinjama area are reported to already have fled the fighting, according to press reports. These fresh fighting thus even will enhance the regional refugee crisis. An estimated 1.2 million people are displaced in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, some 500,000 of those being refugees. An area of an estimated 50,000 square kilometres is occupied by different "rebel" groups, hindering the majority of the local population from attending their lands and businesses. The so-called "rebels" generally are without political aims and are mostly observed plundering the natural and human resources of the region.
|
As afrol earlier reported, neither the food distribution nor the health care in Sierra Leone is proportioned to receive these large numbers of returnees. Both the World Health Organisation and the World Food Programme have cried out for more resources. The government is out of resources, Sierra Leone being listed as the poorest country of the planet.
