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. UNHCR worker still missing
We still have no information regarding the whereabouts of our Gueckedou-based radio operator, Joseph Cece Loua, who has been missing since December 6. He was last seen being taken away toward the Liberian border, during a rebel attack on Gueckedou. UNHCR is doing all it can to obtain his release.
2. Guinea
UNHCR and partner agencies are now about to start moving aid into Guinea's volatile "parrot's beak" area jutting into Sierra Leone territory. The area holds at least a quarter million people in need of food and other supplies. Operating from their base in Kissidougou, aid workers are gearing up for the resumption of aid deliveries to the area which has been virtually cut-off from the rest of the country since late November.
In a boost to the relief operation, UNHCR has recovered a significant quantity of aid supplies that had been feared lost in a December rebel attack on Gueckedou. More than 40,000 blankets, 23,500 plastic tarpaulins, 15,700 jerricans, soap and 4,700 mats have been recovered. The supplies will be rushed to the refugees in the camps dotting the "parrot's beak" and other refugee-affected areas of southern Guinea.
The recovered aid supplies should meet some of the most immediate needs. UNHCR has therefore cancelled one of the two relief flights planned for next week, but one planeload, carrying 8,000 jerricans, 7,000 blankets and 500 rolls of plastic tarpaulin, is still due to arrive in Conakry next week.
Meanwhile elsewhere in Guinea, UNHCR is identifying fresh groups of refugees stranded in various areas. In Nzerekore, near the Liberian border, some 1,100 refugees who fled their camps near Massadou and Macenta town, to the north-west, were discovered this week. The area also holds about 5,000 internally displaced Guineans. In the Kouankan camp, southeast of Macenta, UNHCR staff found 3,500 refugees who had fled other areas, increasing the camp's population to 14,500.
Meanwhile, some 3,300 refugees have repatriated from Conakry to Sierra Leone on the UNHCR-chartered vessel, as more people are signing up to go back. UNHCR's Conakry transit center is hopelessly overcrowded with Sierra Leoneans anxious to go back. The centre shelters some 3,000 persons - three times its originally planned capacity. A second transit site, that can hold up to 5,000 people, is now planned in Matoto, outside Conakry.
Upon arrival in Freetown, returnees are registered by UNHCR staff and taken to transit centers located in Jui and Waterloo, east of the capital. There, returnees receive a meal, a sleeping mat and a blanket. Once they reach their final destination, they are given emergency resettlement packages that include jerricans, soap, kitchen sets and plastic tarpaulin. UNHCR and local officials are trying to find government-controlled areas where returnees could be accommodated, since most of them come from rebel-controlled areas of Sierra Leone to which they cannot return.
3. Pakistan/Afghanistan
The number of Afghans arriving at a dismal makeshift camp in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province has jumped from around 250 to 750 a day over the past three days.
On Tuesday, UNHCR began moving the 18,000 new arrivals already in the Jalozai camp to a much better equipped camp nearby. By the end of Thursday, 15,000 had already been shifted in truck convoys to the New Shamashatoo II camp where UNHCR, WFP, the Pakistani government and several other agencies are providing them with shelter, food, water and other supplies. The transfer of refugees was expected to be completed by Saturday, although the sudden increase in new arrivals, if sustained, may result in a need to extend the operation. It is feared that many more refugees from fighting in northern Afghanistan may be on their way, as well as people fleeing the effects of the worst drought in living memory. Some of those arriving at Jalozai are exhausted and famished, after spending as much as a year as internally displaced inside Afghanistan. Many have travelled long distances through the mountains on foot. There are now a total of more than 60,000 new arrivals in Pakistan who are known to UNHCR. It is believed that as many as 40,000 more may have entered the country unmonitored, and have gone to live with relatives in cities or long-standing refugee camps.
This document is intended for public information purposes only. It is not an official UN document.