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The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has started preparing new camps in southern Guinea for some 60,000 internally displaced people who fled insecurity in the troubled Guekedou area, the agency said on Thursday.
A new camp being built at Sangardo, 30 km north-west of Kissidougou, will initially host about 10,000 refugees found on roads between the towns of Kissidougou and Faranah.
But the UNHCR said the fate of tens of thousands of refugees who fled border camps in Guekedou, following a string of cross-border raids by armed groups early in December, remained unknown. The agency evacuated its offices and personnel from the locality because of guerrilla attacks.
The agency quoted fleeing refugees as saying many camps were emptied while Guinean authorities had set up roadblocks to push back refugees moving to safe areas in the north. The refugees say the Guineans have taken the action because they fear infiltration by insurgents of the rebel Revolutionary United front of Sierra Leone.
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