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The new Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Frederick Barton, arrives in Guinea on Monday night at the start of a week-long mission to West Africa, UNHCR reported on Monday.
Barton, who took up his post at the end of August, will also go to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire in that order. He will meet senior government officials, NGO representatives, the heads of UN agencies and UNHCR staff to review achievements UNHCR has made in the field and problems it has encountered with regard to repatriation and reintegration activities.
It is anticipated, UNHCR said, that by the end of his visit on 4 November, new solutions and approaches will be proposed for the refugee crisis in the subregion, which has one of the highest concentrations of refugees in Africa.
The four countries host a total of about 700,000 refugees, including around 500,000 in Guinea, according to the UNHCR.
Barton said: “For instance in Liberia, we need to think about how to bridge the gap between relief and development. So far, UNHCR has assisted in one way or another more than 300,000 Liberian refugees to go home, but in order to make the return sustainable, development programmes must follow the short-lived humanitarian assistance.
“Therefore, the dialogue with bilateral donors and multilateral organisations to muster their support for long-term economic activities in Liberia is essential.”
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