WFP completes delivery of food to 44,000 refugees in Parrot’s Beak

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says it has completed the delivery of emergency food aid to 44,000 refugees in various camps in the Parrot’s Beak, a remote corner of southwestern Guinea that juts into Sierra Leone. The area was affected by fighting in recent months. About 47,000 other refugees relocated to safer camps in the north are receiving food from WFP. The relocation of refugees from the Beak, which is near the southern border town of Guekedou, started earlier this month. Tens of thousands of Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees were caught up for several months in fighting between the Guinean army and armed groups in and around the Parrot’s Beak that made it a no-go area for UN humanitarian workers. Despite recent improvements, the security situation in the southwest remains fragile, with limited access for UN humanitarian workers and aid agencies, which are trying to relocate all refugees further inland. Prior to the fighting, the Beak sheltered up to 140,000 refugees in various camps. Many had to flee: some went back to Sierra Leone while others were relocated in new installations in Albadaria (200 km north Guekedou) and Dabola (400 km east Conakry). Altogether, WFP is currently providing food to more than 130,000 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in Guinea. WFP is also providing food for internally displaced persons in various parts of the country, including Kindia, Faranah and the Kankan region. The number of displaced Guineans, most of them farmers, has reached about 180,000, WFP says.