UNHCR appeals to Guinea, Liberia to open borders

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed to the governments of Liberia and Guinea to reopen their countries' common borders to returning refugees. Border posts were closed in August following security incidents in northern Liberia and no repatriation convoys have operated since. Meanwhile, several hundred Liberians in N'zerekore in south-eastern Guinea have now said they want to go home. UNHCR has reminded the governments that it is scheduled to end its assistance to returning refugees on 31 December. UNHCR proposes to transfer Liberians from Guinea to Liberia via Cote d'Ivoire. More than 13,000 Liberians had been repatriated from Guinea on UNHCR convoys in 1999 before the August security problems, bringing the total to have return home from that country since 1997 to 75,000. Returns from Cote d'Ivoire, the other main country of asylum, have continued throughout. Since 1997, an estimated 340,000 of 480,000 Liberians who had fled their country have returned with UNHCR help and on their own.