UNHCR prepares for massive relocation

A UNHCR team travelled to the ‘Parrot’s Beak’ region of southern Guinea on Monday in preparation for the urgent relocation of tens of thousands of refugees prior to the start of the rainy season, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. The team, accompanied by Guinean officials, discussed the relocation plans with refugee leaders at Kolomba camp, situated at the tip of the Parrot’s Beak, a wedge of territory that juts into Sierra Leone. Due to a shortage of trucks, UNHCR told leaders, many refugees may have to walk the first part of the journey to a transfer site at Katkama, some 50 km north of the southwestern town of Guekedou. For those refugees located in the farthest reaches of the beak, the journey could be over 60 km, the UN agency reported, adding that aid stations will be positioned along the route to provide rest, food and medical care. The most vulnerable refugees will be provided with transport to Katkama from where all will be taken northwards to new camps. Refugees expressed mixed feeling about the relocation, UNHCR reported. Most accepted the need to move to safer areas but a delegation of 15 women leaders from 12 camps expressed their worries to the UNHCR team at Kolomba. They said they were concerned about educational opportunities for the children, security for women during the walk northwards, freedom of movement and living conditions in the new camps, and long-term prospects for repatriation to Sierra Leone. The Parrot’s Beak, cut off from humanitarian assistance for much of the past seven months due to fighting between Guinean government forces and various rebel factions, now holds about 80,000 refugees, according to UNHCR. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported on Thursday that since January nearly half of the 140,000 refugees who had been in the Parrot’s Beak had either moved farther inland or returned to their own country without assistance. Some 50 refugees arrive every day in the town of Kenema, southern Sierra Leone, while the rebel-held town of Kailahun in the east has seen some 300 arrivals, MSF reported. Many had left family members behind and some spoke of harassment on their way home at the hands of various armed factions, according to MSF.