Share & more
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plan to begin repatriating 20,000 Sierra Leonean refugees from Guinea beginning on Monday, the IOM said.
In a statement issued on Wednesday appealing for emergency assistance, the IOM said air and sea operations had been planned to “provide safe and orderly emergency transportation” for Sierra Leonean refugees who had volunteered to return home. They are fleeing fighting that has spilled from across the Sierra Leone border into previously safe areas in southern Guinea.
A UNHCR spokeswoman told IRIN on Friday that the agency had agreed to work with IOM “to facilitate repatriation” of refugees who wish to return to their country.
IOM estimates that 328,000 Sierra Leoneans had taken refuge in neighbouring Guinea. Most are located either within or near the conflict areas of the country’s southeast. The repatriation effort that begins on Monday will last two months and cost some US $2.23 million. Of this, the United Kingdom and Denmark have contributed a total of $675,000, leaving a shortfall of $1.56 million.
“IOM will assume full responsibility for managing the sea operation as of 7 January 2001, while the airlift will be considered at a later stage,” the statement said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions