UNHCR says situation fragile

Newly appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, described as fragile on Tuesday the situation in Guinea where at least 500,000 people have sought refuge from wars in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Lubbers, who briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Guinea, said at a news conference afterwards that there were 375,000 Sierra Leonean and 155,000 Liberian refugees in the country, threatening its stability.

“He said that due to the small size of Guinea and the enormous number of refugees staying there, the refugees were beginning to be resented,” a UNCHR statement on the news conference said.

“Because of the poor economic situation in Guinea, there was a practical need for humanitarian assistance which needed to be funded by the international community,” the UNHCR added.

Lubbers had told the Council that though it was the UNHCR’s responsibility to highlight the humanitarian situation in Guinea, the effort should not be borne solely by the agency. He said the initiative of the Economic Community of West African States was important in tackling the problem.

Equally important, he said, was the job of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, whose operations have served as a signal to people in the region that the rest of the world “was taking some responsibility”.