Guinea border raids claim 10 more lives, thousands of refugees plan move

CONAKRY, Guinea (Reuters) -- At least 10 people have been killed in new raids on settlements in southern Guinea near the Liberian border, security sources said on Tuesday.

Humanitarian workers said tens of thousands of refugees would be moved from camps near the border because of continuing violence and instability in the area after months of attacks.

Military sources said fighting continued into Tuesday at the settlement of Yendu in the Kissidougou area after dissidents attacked on Monday.

Rebels also attacked the villages of Kotizu and Gbayaro near the town of Macenta on Monday, the sources added.

They said at least one government soldier, two civilians and seven rebels were killed in the attacks and subsequent fighting.

Reports from the Gueckedou area said rebel forces still controlled the villages of Tomandou and Seredou, which they captured at the weekend.

Guinea's government says over 600 people have been killed in similar attacks since September, and accuses Liberia and Burkina Faso of supporting the dissidents, who it says are backed by Sierra Leonean rebels.

Liberia in turn accuses Guinea of harboring rebels who have fought government troops in northern Liberia since July.

Staff at the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, which runs camps for hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in Guinea, said the violence was affecting some of its camps, causing some refugees to flee.

UNHCR's Guinea representative Chris Ache told Reuters on Monday that the agency planned to begin relocating refugees from the border areas early next month, moving some 127,000 refugees from the Forecariah region to Kindia, further away from the Sierra Leone border.

"The lives of some refugees have become even more precarious these days as they can't get food since supplies cannot now reach areas, especially in the forest region (near the Liberian border), where the rebels' movements have intensified," he said.

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