About 3,100 refugees fleeing the war-ravaged Republic of Congo arrived last week in Haut-Ogooue, south-eastern Gabon, bringing to 9,900 the number registered in the country so far, a UNHCR official told IRIN on Thursday.
“Lots more have not come out (to be registered) because they fear government may send them back,” he said.
The official said that in a survey last week, UNHCR recorded another 3,000 refugees, 80 percent of them Congolese, in the Gabonese capital, Libreville.
The first wave of 3,800 Congolese refugees arrived in May at a site in the south-western region of Nyanga, near the border with Congo.
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) gave the Libreville government US $75,000 on 27 August for the care of the refugees in Gabon, an official of the OAU’s Bureau for Refugees told IRIN on Thursday.
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