Government, UNHCR agree to close Sembakounya camp

The government and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have agreed to close Sembakounya camp in Dabola, central Guinea by end of July and to voluntarily relocate the 3,810 refugees currently living there to the southern area of Kissidougou. In a humanitarian update on Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also said that a technical joint mission was currently in Dabola to "envisage" the implementation of projects allowing the passage from humanitarian to development activities in the region. It consisted of representatives of the government, UNHCR, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). It also reported that the repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees continued through the Languette and the Pamelap/Kambia axis in northwest Sierra Leone. In the week of 19-26 May, some 1,058 refugees were repatriated through Languette to Kailahun district in the east of the country, while some 604 refugees returned through the Kambia/Pamelap axis for the eastern Kono district, OCHA said. Out of some 40,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea as of 1 January, OCHA said, voluntary repatriation has also been carried out for 22,379 Sierra Leoneans. Another 10,138 had returned through the Languette in April and May while 12,241 have returned through the Kambia/Pamelap axis at an almost constant flow of 2,500 refugees per month since January.