DATE=10/03/00
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-267401
TITLE=U-N-H-C-R / GUINEA (L ONLY)
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations refugee agency, U-N-H-C-R, says about four-thousand refugees, most of them from Sierra Leone, have abandoned their camp in southeastern Guinea following new attacks by rebels last weekend. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports previous attacks were by rebels from Sierra Leone and Liberia.
TEXT: The U-N refugee agency says the camp was attacked early Saturday and a U-N-H-C-R warehouse was looted. Following the attack, the agency says the Guinean army deployed troops in the border region.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says some 32-thousand refugees were in the area before the attacks but that many have left in the past few days. He says on Monday, Guinean President Lansana Conte spoke out against the presence of the refugees in the country.
/// JANOWSKI ACT ///
He again alleged the refugees boosted crime, arms and drug trafficking as well as AIDS in Guinea. He also implied that refugees attracted rebel incursions into Guinea. Needless to say, we are worried that this could lead to more violence against refugees in Guinea which we had already seen several weeks ago following a similar statement nationally televised by President Conte.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Janowski says some refugees are reported to have returned spontaneously to Sierra Leone. He says the U-N-H-C-R office in the capital Freetown has reported several thousands have returned around Lungi and Port Loko. He adds a group of around five-thousand returnees is presently trapped in the Kambia district which is inaccessible because of the presence of Sierra Leonean rebels.
Guinea, which has a population of around eight million, hosts an estimated 480-thousand refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone. (Signed)
NEB/LS/JWH
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