UNHCR reports hundreds of new arrivals from Sierra Leone

Some 600 to 700 people arrived in Conakry by boat from Sierra Leone on Monday, UNHCR reported.

One group of 300 to 400, was found to be made up mainly of Guinean nationals and residents, UNHCR reported. The group included 19 people identified as refugees, whom UNHCR transported by truck to Forecariah, a centre for Sierra Leonean refugees some 100 Km southeast of Conakry.

Of the refugees, nine children - three of them girls - were identified as ex-members of the pro-government Civil Defence Forces (CDF). Another four were found to have been tortured or subjected to other forms of physical abuse.

Two commercial passenger boats also reached Conakry from Freetown on Monday, according to UNHCR, which said the some 300 passengers were to be screened by the Guinean authorities.

UNHCR said it was monitoring new arrivals in Forecariah, Conakry and the southern border district of Gueckedou and that so far, it had pre-registered 265 new asylum seekers, mostly women and children.

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