UN agency relocates thousands of refugees

UNHCR began relocating tens of thousands of frightened refugees on Tuesday from a camp near the town of Guekedou, southern Guinea, to a safer location 200 km to the north, the UN refugee agency reported. Ten trucks escorted by Guinean troops rolled out of the Nyaedou camp, 17 km north of Guekedou, for a new camp at Albadaria, near the town of Faranah. The camp is capable of holding 60,000 people. The UNHCR is moving 350 people a day to the new site but hopes to send additional trucks to clear Nyaedou of its 30,000 inmates. However, the agency said military activity was preventing it from evacuating 180,000 refugees and 70,000 IDPs from the Parrot’s Beak, an area southwest of Guekedou that juts into Sierra Leone. On Friday, UNHCR employees were able to retrieve stocks of food and materials from the agency’s warehouses in Guekedou, abandoned in December when fighting broke out in the area between Guinean forces and the insurgents. In Friday’s operation, 20 UNHCR trucks escorted by the army moved 50 mt of dried peas, corn-soya blend, at least 4,100 blankets, 3,100 plastic tarpaulins, 1,500 jerry cans and some 1,100 kitchen sets and pots. The supplies were taken to the relative safety of Kissidougou, some 80 km northwest of Guekedou. Supplies from this location will be sent to refuges at Albadaria and some 30,000 others camped at nearby Massakoundou.