POPULATION-GUINEA: Thousands Of Refugees Trapped In Conflict Zone

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Feb 2 2001 (IPS) - More than 200,000 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees have been languishing at displacement camps in Guinea’s southern district of Guekedou, following rebel incursions into that country in the past four months.

The situation is becoming desperate as all humanitarian organisations working with the refugees have pulled out of the troubled region because of growing insecurity, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Our fear now is that the refugees might flee from the camps and may even be mistaken for rebels by Guinean security forces thus putting their lives in danger,” a UNHCR official said in Freetown Friday.

In the next couple of months the UNHCR says it will embark on the repatriation of some 50,000 refugees to their home countries, a programme which will continue until all the refugees are repatriated.

Even the refugees themselves have been clamouring for early repatriation as fighting spreads closer to their camps, with both the Guinean security and dissident forces targeting them.

The majority of the refugees are women and children making them much more vulnerable to the effects of the fighting. Those who have managed to return home have been recounting horrific tales of harassment, violence and stealing of property by irate Guinean soldiers and militia fighters who accuse the refugees of being rebel collaborators.

Isatu Sesay, who returned to Sierra Leone with a five-month old baby, said: “Escaping from that border region was a nightmare. I was detained by Guinean gendamerie together with my baby and 50 other refugees for 21 days on allegation that we sympathise with the rebels.”

Sesay, 21, claimed that “many people died” in the process of escaping, either through starvation or being shot by Guinean troops.

As fighting continued this week, the Guinean army deployed more troops and helicopter gunships to locate and dislodge rebels. But the price is dearly paid by the refugees, whose camps have reportedly been barricaded and the inhabitants harassed on the slightest pretext.

“We are like pawns in the whole war game,” remarked Bailor Sillah, a 40-year old returnee to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. “Whenever the rebels strike, we bear responsibility. The Guinean army indiscriminately crack down on refugees and deal with us ruthlessly.”

Aid workers fleeing the embattled region say food and medicine are in short supply and children die in large numbers. Camp dwellers are now forced to forage in the nearby bushes for wild fruits and tubers. It is estimated that the entrapped refugees number more than 250,000 and they came from neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia where civil conflict had caused massive devastation and forced them to flee.

As the situation goes from bad to worse on a seemingly daily basis, some of the Sierra Leonean refugees have braved it and returned home, either by using boats or trekking the bushways.

UNHCR sources say about 17,000 have already returned home and are being temporarily resettled in the Lungi district outside the capital Freetown. The refugees are reportedly arriving on a daily basis, and the authorities say arrangements are underway to send them back to their towns and villages of origin.

Although the government in Freetown says it is seeking funds to repatriate the refugees stranded in Guinea, it is clear that those who have made the journey so far did so at their own expense.

“Many, if not all of those (refugees) left behind desperately want to return home but they simply don’t have the means,” said Fatu Kamara, a returnee.

The conflict in Guinea started last September when armed dissidents crossed the borders of Sierra Leone and Liberia launching attacks on various Guinean towns on the western and southern borders.

More than 500 people are believed to have been killed while millions of dollars worth of property destroyed. It is feared that the escalating conflict in Guinea may once again plunge the sub- region into chaos and a major refugee crisis.

The Guinean government of General Lansana Conte initially blamed the attacks on Liberia, which had earlier accused Guinea of backing insurgents fighting to topple Charles Taylor’s regime in Monrovia. But it soon emerged that Guinean dissidents were certainly behind the invasion.

As the situation deteriorates further, the 16-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has mandated the deployment of armed peacekeepers along the common borders of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. But these are yet to be implemented and the situation seems to be deteriorating further.

The UNHCR has described the crisis in Guinea as its “most difficult mission in recent times.”

Meanwhile, the Guineans have been sending more troops in the disputed border region, and fears are growing that this may not be in the interest of the refugees caught between two armed hostile forces.