This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR
spokesman Kris Janowski (to whom quoted text may be attributed) at today's
press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
1. Guinea
UNHCR again has dramatically scaled down the relief effort in Guinea, amid reports of fresh attacks in the country's volatile south, where hundreds of thousands of refugees urgently need aid. Most of UNHCR's staff operating from the regional base in Kissidougou have been withdrawn northwards, with only several dozen international and national staff remaining. The pullout comes amid reports of violence in the southwestern Guinea town of Gueckedou which started late Sunday and continued into Monday. Unconfirmed reports speak of several deaths. The new flare-up near Gueckedou has dashed hopes for quick access to an estimated 250,000 people stuck in the Parrot's Beak region - a thumb of Guinean territory jutting into Sierra Leone. While UNHCR is looking at ways of moving them to a safer area, any such operation would require elementary security.
The need to help Sierra Leonean refugees is becoming ever more urgent amid reports by former refugees of beatings and torture by the Guinean army in the Gueckedou area. There are also allegations of widespread abuses by Sierra Leonean rebels against desperate refugees who have resorted to walking back home through rebel-infested border areas. Refugees who have crossed areas of Sierra Leone controlled by the RUF rebels speak of rape, abduction and murder.
UNHCR is gravely concerned about the continued security incidents in southwest Guinea, as well as persistent rumours of more attacks. The volatile situation has turned the relief effort into an extremely risky, ad hoc venture.
However, despite the problems around Guinea's borders, work continues at two sites - Borea, 60 kms north of Kissidougou and Kuntaya, 82 kms north of Kissidougou - where UNHCR is building camps for refugees whom we hope to relocate from the Gueckedou and Parrot's Beak regions. By the end of this week UNHCR will start relocation convoys from Nyaedou camp, 17 kms north of Gueckedou, in order to shift refugees away from the volatile border region. UNHCR cares for some 30,000 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in Nyaedou. On Monday, UNHCR airlifted 8,100 jerrycans, 7,000 blankets and 500 rolls of plastic tarpaulins to Conakry on a Boeing 707 that arrived from Copenhagen. These supplies will be used in the new camps.
2. Assistant High Commissioner meets Kabila
Assistant High Commissioner Soren Jessen-Petersen on Monday urged Congo's new president, Joseph Kabila, to remember the human cost of war when negotiating with other warring parties in the Congo. Jessen-Petersen met President Kabila on the last day of his eight-day tour of four countries in Southern Africa. He also asked the Congolese president for better access to refugees and displaced people in strife-torn DRC and stressed the need for minimum security for humanitarian workers. President Kabila said he welcomed UNHCR's work in the DRC and told Jessen-Petersen that UNHCR's concerns will be taken into account during any future peace talks. But he said a pullout of foreign troops from the Congo was a condition for renewed negotiations.
UNHCR is taking care of some 145,000 refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including over 100,000 Angolans in remote areas of Bas-Congo, Bandundu and Katanga. It also assists some 350,000 of the DRC's estimated 2 million internally displaced people. Fuel shortages, as well as logistical and security problems, make it very difficult to reach the refugee encampments. A further 65,000 Angolan refugees scattered in the forested border regions are totally inaccessible to humanitarian assistance. Other refugees in the DRC include Rwandans, Sudanese, Burundians and Ugandans.
Recent fighting in southern Katanga Province has prompted a new influx of Congolese refugees into Zambia. The country is now hosting a total of 40,000 Congolese refugees. During his visit in Zambia, the Assistant High Commissioner called on the international community to continue supporting refugee programmes there.
In addition to Zambia, 335,000 Congolese have sought refuge in other neighboring countries, including Tanzania (110,000), the Republic of Congo (98,000) and the Central Africa Republic (10,000). Smaller numbers of Congolese have also fled to Rwanda, Burundi, Angola and Uganda.
3. Afghanistan/Pakistan
The situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate, with a reported half million people displaced inside the country because of conflict, drought and hunger. There are now real fears that famine may be just around the corner. As a result, UNHCR is facing an increasingly complex and difficult situation in Pakistan. There are now 52,000 new arrivals receiving full assistance in Shamshatoo camp, after being moved from Jalozai - where new arrivals have been gathering. Jalozai, which was emptied only 18 days ago, now has another 72,000 people living in abject conditions. WFP is giving food assistance to a further 10,000 people in Akora Khattack. In Jalozai, UNHCR is trying to separate vulnerable new arrivals - currently around 60-70 percent - from others seeking assistance. Once identified, vulnerable individuals are moved to Shamshatoo, but there is only space for about 8,000 more people. Other sites are proving very hard to find.
This document is intended for public information purposes only. It is not an official UN document.