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afrol News, 11 May - The Gambia has received a new influx of some 2,000 Senegalese refugees fleeing fighting between government and separatist forces in Senegal's southern Casamance region, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported yesterday. The Gambia is already host to some 12,000 refugees. The new arrivals came from Senegal's Casamance region after fleeing the area of Diouloulou, where the government reportedly sent police forces as part of a mop-up operation ahead of municipal elections on 12 May, a spokesman for UNHCR said in Geneva. Diouloulou is a small provincial center on the main road connecting The Gambia in the north and Casamance capital Ziguinchor to the south. The refugees fled the Diouloulou area and arrived in the towns of Kartung and Darsilami in southern Gambia. Gunshots could be heard from these border towns up till Monday, UNHCR reports from the area. The operation was apparently sparked by an attack Wednesday on a government electoral convoy by the Casamance Democratic Forces Movement (MFDC), which has been waging a separatist struggle since the early 1980s, according to UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. The attack reportedly killed at least seven people and injured four more, and local press reports indicated that the Senegalese forces have so far arrested 33 alleged rebels. The Gambian Red Cross and UNHCR's partner Gambia Food and Nutrition Association (GAFNA) have been present at the border, where an average of 50 to 100 refugees arrive each day, and food provided by the government has been distributed to the refugees. As of Monday, a total of 808 refugees had already been registered, the majority being women and children. 600 were temporarily put up in the local village school at Kartung, while the rest were camping outside the immigration centre at Darsilami. By Tuesday, the figure had risen sharply to close to 2,000, including an unknown number hosted by relatives in the surrounding villages. An evaluation mission by the Gambian immigration authorities, the World Food Programme (WFP) and GAFNA went to the region on Tuesday to assess the situation. On Wednesday UNHCR also sent staff from Dakar to assess the refugees' needs in terms of blankets, soap and other non-food items. The assistance will be provided at a temporary camp called Kwinella. The Gambian government has made arrangements to transfer refugees from Kartung and Darsilami to Bambali refugee camp, some 200 km inland, UNHCR reports. "But refugees are said to be reluctant to go to the camp, preferring to wait and see at the border until the situation calms down." Meanwhile, the UN agency voiced concern about the deterioration of the security situation in Liberia following fighting this week near the town of Gbarnga, in northeast Bong County. People were reportedly fleeing the area in large numbers, Mr. Redmond said. Some 900 students and teachers from the country's second largest university were evacuated by a police convoy to the capital, Monrovia, where many people were reportedly headed. - It is also feared that the continued fighting could prompt movements of refugees into neighbouring countries, particularly Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, the spokesman said. "UNHCR staff in both countries are getting prepared for this eventuality."
Sources: Based on UNHCR and afrol archives
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