West Africa: Thousands of Refugees Again Fleeing Attacks in Southwest Guinea

12 February 2001
allAfrica.com
By Delphine Marie

As many as 25,000 people set out on foot from the Nyaedou camp in southwest Guinea over the weekend, headed northwards. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 refugees who fled Nyaedou have sought refuge in Katkama, a former refugee camp that was itself emptied following an attack in December. The camp, about 25 kilometers north of Nyaedou, was later found looted and partially destroyed.

There were indications that Guinea authorities have letting the desparate refugees pass check points, particularly at Dabala bridge between Katkama and Nyaedou. As many as 5000 people appeared to be headed even further north.

Over the weekend the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sent dozens of trucks to Katkama. A new camp called Kountaya, in Albadaria, some 180 kilometers north of Nyaedou, is accepting refugees relocated from this volatile southwestern region of Guinea.

The first thirty trucks on Saturday collected the most vulnerable people, including children, the elderly and the sick. UNHCR also sent additional staff into Nyaedou to assess whether any refugees remain there. Earlier reports seemed to indicate that the camp was completely empty.

UNHCR and its partners are also considering urgent steps to rehabilitate basic infrastructures in Katkama so as to ensure minimum needs are met until refugees can be relocated further inland.

On Friday, refugees on foot started following a UNHCR convoy of about 15 trucks which were carrying about a thousand people, well over their capacity of 44 persons per truck. The 34,000 refugees who were in Nyaedou camp until the weekend had repeatedly expressed some frustration at the pace of the relocation movement, which they said was too slow.

In recent weeks, camp residents had heard repeated fighting in Gueckedou, 15 kilometers away, and sometimes closer. The presence of armed militias of different affiliations in the area, and sometimes in the camp, had posed a great threat to refugees, including a risk of forced recruitment.

Delphine Marie works for the UNHCR operation in Conakry, Guinea

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