Insecurity still drives thousands from their homes

Insecurity is still displacing thousands of people in parts of West Africa, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said on Tuesday in Geneva.

In Daru, eastern Sierra Leone, UNHCR has registered over 3,000 Sierra Leonean refugees who returned spontaneously from Guinea since 1 July, Redmond said. Several hundreds have also returned home from Liberia, accompanied by “a handful of new Liberian refugees” fleeing renewed fighting in the northern county of Lofa.

The new arrivals also include Guinean civilians recently freed by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels who abducted them earlier this year during raids inside southern Guinea, Redmond said, adding that UNHCR would help repatriate them to Guinea.

Most of the new returnees came from the Parrot’s Beak region in southwestern Guinea, UNHCR said. They cited the closure of camps and the termination of assistance in the area, which juts into Sierra Leone and is also close to Lofa County, as their main reasons for leaving. They did not report any harassment along the way, and said that passing through RUF-held areas was now easier.

Some returnees are, however, in bad shape, including children suffering from severe malnutrition, Redmond said. The children, he said, are immediately taken to an International Medical Corps supplementary feeding centre in Daru. They receive vaccinations, and every returnee undergoes medical screening.

Fighting in Liberia has also caused some 3,800 Liberians to seek refuge in western Côte d’Ivoire since May.
Arrivals from Monrovia and Lofa County reported police intimidation and forced recruitment by government forces as their reasons for leaving. Others coming from Bong County, adjacent to Lofa, said they were fleeing because they feared that fighting might spread to their district.