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Fresh fighting has erupted around the Guinean border town of Guekedou raising further concerns about the plight of tens of thousands of refugees trapped in the area, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
"We can say there has been some shooting heard in the area of Guekedou," UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler told IRIN. "We have no idea what has become of the refugees as we have not had access to the area for some time and it's becoming very worrisome."
Attacks mounted by as yet unidentified asailants in the area in recent weeks forced the UNHCR to suspend its efforts to help an estimated 250,000 refugees from neighbouring Sierra Leone and internally displaced Guineans.
The government of Guinea has accused Liberia of being behind Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front rebels and Guinean dissidents thought to be mounting repeated cross-border raids since September last year. The raids have claimed scores of lives, including that of a UNHCR worker. Two other UNHCR staff abducted by the attackers inside Guinea were later released in Liberia.
The Economic Community of West African States plans to deploy troops before the end of January to safeguard the troubled borders between Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
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