UNHCR mounts refugee operation, beefs up presence

The UN Refugee agency said on Thursday it was mounting a complex operation to handle the influx of refugees fleeing conflict in Liberia, help thousands of Sierra Leonean refugees returning from Guinea and Liberia, and relocate thousands more Sierra Leonean returnees staying in temporary settlements to safe home areas. Over 10,700 Liberian refugees had arrived in Jendema, on the southeastern border with Liberia since early February, the agency said, after fleeing the fighting around Tubmanburg, Sawmill and Klay Junction, some 47 km from the capital, Monrovia. Arrivals have dropped off in recent days, it added. "UNHCR is relocating the refugees from Jendema town to Jimi Bagbo camp in the southeastern district of Pujehun, and to temporary settlements that have housed Sierra Leoneans returning from neighbouring Guinea and Liberia. Over 2,000 Liberian refugees have been relocated to ease pressure on Jendema, where sanitation, water and shelter facilities are stretched thin by the large numbers arriving there," the agency said. Liberian refugees who arrived earlier in Kailahun district, north of Jendema, were being moved farther inland from villages along the border. UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration were also operating boats twice a week from Guinea to Sierra Leone bringing home 500 Sierra Leonean refugees weekly. The agency said it had dispatched more emergency staff to the region to beef up presence in the field locations, at transit centres, settlements and camps. Fifteen staff have arrived so far, and more were on the way. Meanwhile, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Kamel Morjane, who arrived in Guinea on Tuesday was expected to review actions planned and already undertaken to strengthen the protection of young refugees following allegations that aid workers have been using humanitarian assistance in exchange for sexual favours.