Sierra Leone
"Refugees are not advised to cross RUF-held areas"

afrol News, 6 April - Following the critics from several human rights groups, the UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) today stated that it is NOT advising Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea to cross territory held by the RUF terrorists. UNHCR is broadcasting radio messages to warn refugees of the dangers. 

The US based rights groups Human Rights Watch (HRW) three days ago documentted that the so-called "safe passage through rebel-held territory" announced by UNHCR leader Ruud Lubbers in February was not safe at all. On the contrary, the HRW report documented that the "rebels" maintained their terrorist methods, still raping, abducting and killing refugees fleeing the camps in Guinea.

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond thus today told the press in Geneva that "a UNHCR information team has been regularly broadcasting radio messages into the Parrot’s Beak [a thumb of Guinean territory jutting into Sierra Leone] warning people of the hazards of walking back to Sierra Leone, including reports of abductions, rapes and other abuses by armed groups operating in the border region." The UN agency thus met HRW's demands.

Redmond said the information team also had visited Kolomba camp yesterday (Thursday) "to stress the dangers and to provide information on UNHCR’s program to relocate and assist refugees within Guinea."

- The only organized return to Sierra Leone is by sea from Conakry, where UNHCR and IOM operate boats, Redmond claimed. "Although UNHCR is not encouraging returns to Sierra Leone, those who wish to do so from Conakry can register for the regular sailings. Since September, an estimated 30,000 people have returned by boat from Conakry to Freetown," he said.

HRW had collected testimonies from several refugees that had crossed RUF-held areas returning to Sierra Leone. Numerous men who passed through the area described recruitment of able-bodied men and boys as young as fifteen to fight with the RUF forces or to carry out forced labor in the diamond mines or with the rebel army. Numerous women returnees described being abducted, raped, gang-raped and otherwise sexually abused.

Based on its findings, Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, said "the United Nations must not lend its authority to a scheme that will only mean more suffering for traumatized refugees ... Instead, UNHCR should make as its priority the protection and relocation of the refugees to more secure camps further inland within Guinea."

Amnesty International yesterday threw its lot into the critics, saying it was "time to bring this West African human rights disaster to an end." Amnesty had also documented the killing, raping and abduction of Guinean men, women and children by the RUF within southern Guinea. The group recommended that the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and a proposed ECOWAS force should be set to protect the refugees. 

Troubled by the critics, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond today assured that the agency was doing all it could to protect and relocate the refugees as quickly as possible, either to safer camps within Guinea or to the capital, Conakry, where refugees are shipped back to safe areas in Sierra Leone. It was, however, "race against time and the weather," Redmond sayd. 

- So far, more than 27,000 refugees have been relocated from the Parrot’s Beak ... to the Albadaria area, north of the town Kissidougou, Redmond said. The Parrot’s Beak has been largely cut off by fighting since last September, leaving thousands without regular humanitarian assistance. "The impending onset of the rainy season also adds to the urgency of the relocation effort," Redmond said.

He assured that "relocating the Sierra Leonean refugees from dozens of settlements in the insecure southwest to safer parts of Guinea remains UNHCR’s No. 1 priority."

Sources: Based on Human Rights Watch and afrol archives

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