Ten thousand refugees waiting to cross

Reports reaching the UNHCR say about 10,000 Sierra Leoneans are waiting to cross the Melie River separating Kono District, from Gueckedou, southeastern Guinea, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said on Tuesday in Geneva. He said 489 of the refugees crossed into Guinea at the weekend in canoes that could only carry 15 people at a time. “The UNHCR is concerned about the bad state of the canoes being used and rocks in the river that may cause the canoes to collide,” he added. UNHCR said it had recommended the purchase of 50 life vests and four canoes, each able to carry 400 people, to transport asylum seekers. In the first week of August, at least 2,500 Sierra Leoneans entered Gueckedou, UNHCR said. It added: “The Guinean authorities had been reluctant to let more Sierra Leoneans in for fear of rebel infiltration from the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.” However, they agreed to allow pregnant and breast-feeding women, children and the elderly to enter through designated humanitarian corridors. UNHCR said the presence of former fighters had been reported among asylum seekers. Several hundred more could be among those waiting to cross, it said, adding that ex-combatants should be separated from civilians. UNHCR described the condition of the asylum seekers as bad. Most of whom, it said, fled renewed fighting and RUF harassment in Kono District. A new wave of refugees started arriving in Guinea in May after the resurgence of fighting in several parts of Sierra Leone. So far, the UNHCR said, there are 331,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Gueckedou and Forecariah, among them 10,000 recent arrivals.