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afrol News, 19 March - Guinea agreed last Friday to open several border crossing points into Sierra Leone. This will allow a growing number of Sierra Leonean refugees to cross into northern and eastern Sierra Leone via a more direct route and reduce the travel time from five to three days. The opening followed intensive diplomatic efforts, headed by the UN. According to the UN refugees' agency (UNHCR) spokesman Kris Janowski, the Guinean gesture will ease Sierra Leonean refugees' return. The UN agency has promised Guinean authorities regularly to monitor these routes to ensure that refugees are allowed to return freely with their possessions. Until now, returning refugees have had to travel on a roundabout route through the capital, Conakry, and from there by boat to Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. "The opening of the overland crossings will double the weekly number of returnees from 500 to 1,000," Janowski said in Geneva today. Janowski says UNHCR already is planning to make use of the new border crossing points. "The first road convoy is scheduled for Saturday," he said. The convoy is to travel from the camps in Kissidougou to Port Loko, in northern Sierra Leone, through the Kambia border post. Senior government and UNHCR officials are scheduled to visit military and civil authorities in the refugee-hosting zones and the border regions to inform them of the repatriation by road and discuss administrative details, including the type of documents travelling refugees will need. The end of the civil war in Sierra Leone has prompted the return of thousands of Sierra Leonean refugees living in Guinea. More than 15,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in camps in Guinea have registered for voluntary repatriation to Sierra Leone. All expressed the wish to return home as soon as possible. Most of them say they want to go to Sierra Leone to vote during presidential elections set for May. In addition, many would like to return before the onset of the rainy season. They also believe the arrival of peace will make it easier to find jobs in Sierra Leone. Ninety percent of the refugees who have so far registered to go back, originate from the east of Sierra Leone. Some 36,000 refugees have returned from Guinea to Sierra Leone with UNHCR assistance in an operation that started in December 2000. Guinea is still hosting more than 50,000 Sierra Leonean refugees. From Liberia, the number of spontaneous returnees to Sierra Leone also has increased, especially since a state of emergency was announced in Liberia in mid-February. Since then, more than 6,500 Sierra Leoneans from Liberia returned home in organised transport. It is estimated that Liberia still houses over 65,000 refugees from Sierra Leone. Since September 2000, an estimated 153,000 Sierra Leoneans have returned from neighbouring countries. In all, between 145,000 and 200,000 Sierra Leonean refugees remain in camps in Guinea, Liberia, The Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. Sources: Based on UNHCR and afrol archives
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