Guinea: UNHCR studies government offer to relocate 125,000 refugees
27 October -- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is considering a proposal by the Government of Guinea to relocate 125,000 refugees currently camped in insecure zones near the border with Sierra Leone - an area where an agency staff member was killed during a recent attack.
Briefing reporters today in Geneva, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said the agency had fielded a series of joint missions to the camps along the border to assess the security situation, as well as the needs of the refugees. Some of the camps had not been visited by international staff since the agency withdrew from the area after its head of office in Macenta was killed and another staff member abducted during an attack in mid-September.
"There have been 15 attacks in the region bordering Liberia and Sierra Leone in recent months, resulting in some 360 deaths," the spokesman said, quoting figures from Guinean authorities.
So far, UNHCR has rejected two of the six sites proposed by the Government because one was too close to a forest reserve and the other was in an area where local villagers refuse to host new refugees. The other four sites can accommodate up to 100,000 people - 25,000 at each site - without damaging the environment. The agency has sent a team to the area to determine the cost of developing the proposed sites, which are all located in the Kissidougou region.
Meanwhile, a UNHCR mission to Kissidougou and Gueckedou last week found that there was less harassment at checkpoints by young vigilantes and few incidents in the camps themselves, despite continuing rumours of possible attacks in the Gueckedou area, the spokesman said.
Guinea currently hosts 460,000 refugees, including 330,000 Sierra Leoneans and 130,000 Liberians, according to UNHCR.
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