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Insecurity on Guinea/Liberia border, in DR of Congo forces UNHCR to suspend work
14 July -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today announced that it had halted its repatriation operations in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to poor security situations in those countries.

Speaking to the press in Geneva, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said that trouble on the border between Guinea and Liberia had prompted UNHCR to prematurely suspend the repatriation of Liberian refugees. He said the agency was reviewing its plans in case of a possible new influx of Liberian refugees, as had been the case during previous border incidents in August last year.

The voluntary repatriation, which resumed in May this year when both borders were opened following an eight-month freeze, saw more than 5,000 Liberians go home in recent weeks, out of a total of 32,000 who had registered for repatriation this year. The operation was scheduled to stop by mid-July due to expected heavy rains, and to resume in October. "But UNHCR fears that this resumption might not be possible because of the new hostilities between the Liberian government and rebels along the border in Lofa County," Mr. Redmond said. "Once again, there is a big question mark over the future of the 125,000 Liberian refugees in Guinea."

Meanwhile, a deteriorating security situation in the DRC's South Equateur province is forcing UNHCR to "at least temporarily" suspend all relief movements on the Congo River and use much more difficult land routes to reach some 11,000 to 12,000 recently arrived refugees on the Republic of Congo side.

"Distributions of non-food items to the 11-12,000 refugees from the DRC who crossed the river and settled on the Congolese shore around Liranga and Njoundou switched to the land routes -- often very bad jungle tracks -- yesterday," Mr. Redmond said.

According to UNHCR, many refugees who had been living along the river in the Liranga/Njoundou area are leaving for safer locations inland near Dongou in the Congo Republic. The agency is sending an emergency team to the area to look at the possibility of opening new camps away from the volatile border river, in order to ensure continued access to the refugees.