Suspected RUF rebels kill several in village

Suspected RUF rebels killed several people on Monday in a cross-border raid on a Guinean village in the Forecariah area, the UNHCR said in a report dated 10 March. The village hit by the RUF, Petiloli, is one km from Pamelap, one of the main entry points for Sierra Leonean refugees fleeing war in their country. “The raid came after several days of higher-than-normal refugee arrivals in Forecariah,” the UN agency said. Forecariah lies 30.9 km northwest of Pamelap. Sierra Leonean refugees also continued to arrive in the eastern Guinean village of Gueckedou, some 339 km southeast of Forecariah. The UNHCR said that 6,588 new arrivals had been registered since 22 December 1998. A final count of their numbers will be available by end March, it said. Refugees in camps closest to Sierra Leone are to be transferred to sites further from the border. The two new camp locations, Guelo and Katkama, will be large enough for 25,000 of the 50,000 refugees whose camps are most vulnerable. The entire relocation is to be completed by the start of the rainy season in May, the agency said.