Guinea
Guinean refugees abandoned in the midst of rebel attacks

afrol.com, 30 January - While the reports of cross-border attacks on Guinean civilians and Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees are increasing, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) again leaves the war field, abandoning the estimated 250,000 displaced in the Guéckédou region. The security of UN personnel cannot be guaranteed for.

The UNHCR today announced that it again has dramatically scaled down the relief effort in Guinea, amid reports of fresh attacks in the country’s volatile south, where hundreds of thousands of refugees urgently need aid. Most of UNHCR's staff operating from the regional base in Kissidougou have been withdrawn northwards, with only several dozen international and national staff remaining, spokesman Kris Janowski today informed in Geneva. 

The pullout comes amid reports of violence in the southwestern Guinea town of Guéckédou which started late Sunday and continued into Monday. Unconfirmed reports speak of several deaths. The new flare-up near Guéckédou has dashed UNHCR hopes for quick access to an estimated 250,000 people stuck in the Parrot's Beak region - a thumb of Guinean territory jutting into Sierra Leone. Most of Guinea's southwestern part is already depopulated through the attacks from Liberia-supported terrorists/rebels. 

While UNHCR is looking at ways of moving them to a safer area, "any such operation would require elementary security," says Janowski. "The need to help Sierra Leonean refugees is becoming ever more urgent amid reports by former refugees of beatings and torture by the Guinean army in the Guéckédou area," he continues. "There are also allegations of widespread abuses by Sierra Leonean rebels against desperate refugees who have resorted to walking back home through rebel-infested border areas. Refugees who have crossed areas of Sierra Leone controlled by the RUF rebels speak of rape, abduction and murder."

The UNHCR today informed that it is gravely concerned about the continued security incidents in southwest Guinea, as well as persistent rumours of more attacks. The volatile situation has turned the relief effort into an extremely risky, ad hoc venture. Efforts by West African ECOWAS troops to stabilise the border area will not take effect yet.

The intensified attacks on civilians in Guinea comes at a time when the Liberian government is trying to prove its innocence related to the cross-border attacks. There is, however, little doubt that these attacks have been made possible by support, or even encouragement, by Taylor's Liberia and the Sierra Leonean RUF terrorists (also supported by Liberia). The enhanced and brutal attacks on civilians in Guinea thus will increase the pressure to sanction Liberia. 

Work continues in other parts
Despite the problems around Guinea's borders, the UN refugee agency is continuing its work at two sites - Borea, 60 kms north of Kissidougou and Kuntaya, 82 kms north of Kissidougou. Here, the agency is building camps for refugees whom they hope to relocate from the Guéckédou and Parrot's Beak regions. By the end of this week UNHCR will start relocation convoys from Nyaedou camp, 17 kms north of Guéckédou, in order to shift refugees away from the volatile border region. 

The UNHCR cares for some 30,000 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in Nyaedou. On Monday, UNHCR airlifted 8,100 jerry cans, 7,000 blankets and 500 rolls of plastic tarpaulins to Conakry on a Boeing 707 that arrived from Copenhagen. These supplies will be used in the new camps, says Janowski.

Source: Based on UNHCR and afrol archives

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