Over 1,700 arrive from Cote d'Ivoire in two days

Over 1,700 people crossed into Guinea from Cote d'Ivoire through the border district of Nzo on 30 November - 1 December, a source in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Guinea told IRIN. Some 1,129 were Guineans while 608 were foreigners, according to OCHA's field office in the southern Guinean town of Nzerekore. There were 127 Liberians, 76 Malians, three people from Niger and two Ghanaians among 1,058 people who arrived on Saturday, OCHA said. A breakdown by nationality of Sunday's arrivals was not immediately available. Some of the displaced persons said they had had to walk two to three days through paths and forests to reach Guinea. The bulk came from the area around Danane, occupied by a new rebel group since Thursday. The Guinean Red Cross was assisting the newcomers together with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Guinean government had made available an army truck to ferry some of the newcomers and provided fuel for public transport vehicles so as to reduce fares by 30 percent, OCHA said. Children under the age of five had received high-protein biscuits. However, OCHA expressed concern that available water, sanitation and shelter were much less than required. Reports from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ghana also indicated that currently about 1,000 to 1,500 people were crossing into that country from Cote d'Ivoire a day. However only about 200 Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees had asked for asylum in Ghana after having left Cote d'Ivoire, OCHA said on Friday. It said other refugees or potential asylum seekers entering that country had only asked for some humanitarian assistance but had not formally sought asylum in Ghana. There were also West African immigrants with sufficient economic means to support their journey transiting through the country. OCHA, said that as the situation in Cote d'Ivoire persists, humanitarian actors expect that West African immigrants of modest means would increasingly constitute the bulk of those seeking to transit through Ghana and may require basic assistance during their stay. UNHCR has led the development of an inter-agency contingency plan that would be used by the UN system and authorities to determine priority preparedness measures that need to be undertaken in the short and medium term, it said. The agency had also led inter-agency assessment missions which had helped identify potential reception centres, transit sites and logistics bases, as well as action required for these sites to be ready for the western Brong Ahafa region, including the Dormaa, Jaman and Berekum districts and Bole district in the northern region. Apart from UNICEF's participation in the missions, it had deployed experienced staff to assess its ability to respond to the implications of the Cote d'Ivoire crisis, OCHA said. The World Food Programme had propositioned High Energy Biscuits in Tamale northern Ghana and Tema in the environs of the capital, Accra, to cover the needs of some 20,000 people during two months. Meanwhile, fighting continued on Monday between rebels of Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ) and loyalists troops for the control of the western town of Man. The forces launched an attack on the rebel forces on Sunday evening, just hours after French troops evacuated foreigners from the area, BBC reported on Monday. French troops recaptured Man airport on Saturday and evacuated 40 French nationals and another 120 foreigners - half of them Lebanese - from Man and Danane. Evacuees from Man said the rebels were looting and firing into homes, terrorising the population, BBC reported. Danane is a town in western Cote d'Ivoire in the hands of another rebel group Ivoirian Populaire Movement of the Great West (MPIGO). Both groups - MPJ and MPIGO - took over the two towns on Thursday. They are said to include former supporters of late de facto president General Robert Guei, who was killed during a 19 September mutiny that marked the start of an insurgency by another group, the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire.