Refugee relocations continue

UNHCR continued this week to relocate refugees from areas close to Guinea’s border with Sierra Leone to locations farther north.

Some refugees have been evacuated from the Parrot’s Beak, an area in southern Guinea that juts into Sierra Leone. Others were being transported from Katkama, a transit camp north of the border town of Gueckedou. Thousands of refugees gathered at Katkama over the past few weeks following fighting in the area around Guekedou and the nearby Parrot’s Beak.

Refugees are also being moved from another gathering point, Massakoundou, a camp close to the town of Kissidougou, where UNHCR has its operational base. Refugees from camps closer to the fighting had gathered at Massakoundou, which, at its peak, held up to 30,000 people. It still has 11,000, UNHCR said on Wednesday.
News organisations reported this week that the Guinean authorities had ordered the camp closed.

UNHCR said that, due to security concerns and the camp’s proximity to the Sierra Leone border, the Guinean authorities have repeatedly insisted that Massakoundou should be closed. It said that hundreds of refugees were arrested two weeks ago in Massakoundou on suspicion of being rebels. All but two were later released.

The relocation points are situated farther north. The first, in Kountaya, has reached its holding capacity. By Wednesday, it had 26,000 refugees, while a new site opened on 4 April, Boreah, had about 1,500.

A transit centre in Conakry is now overcrowded, with more than 3,000, and a new one with a capacity of 1,000 people is being built about 100 km north of the Guinean capital. It will be used as a one-night stopover for refugees from the south bound for Sierra Leone, UNHCR said.