U.N. seeks safe passage for Guinea refugees

CONAKRY, Guinea (CNN) -- With thousands of west African refugees on the move from conflicts spanning three countries, a top U.N. official is urging regional leaders to guarantee safe movement for those displaced.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers met Monday with Guinean officials as part of an effort to persuade governments in the area to allow free movement of refugees seeking help from relief agencies in southern Guinea. Lubbers made a Sunday visit to southern Guinea, where thousands fleeing regional uprisings have sought shelter.

"Hopefully, by the end of the week, he would have had some sort of regional consensus on how we can get these people to safety as soon as possible," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told CNN.

Fighting between Guinean rebels and government troops, coupled with continued strife in Sierra Leone and Liberia, has uprooted more than 250,000 people in what the U.N. now calls its worst refugee crisis.

Redmond said UNHCR has been unable to get any aid to refugees in southwestern Guinea for three months.

"Several thousand have been able to get out of that area to escape the fighting, but there are still 200,000 people down in the far southwest who are cut off," he said. "We know they need food and medical attention."

Guinean government officials say elements of Sierra Leone's rebel Revolutionary United Front and Liberian nationals are fighting alongside insurgents in a heavily forested region of southern Guinea known as the "Parrot's Beak." Liberia has accused Guinea of harboring rebels fighting its troops in the northern part of its territory.

The area has been the scene of heavy fighting since September. UNHCR officials are trying to move the refugees to camps north of the conflict zone, but Guinean military officials have blocked some convoys from proceeding because of reports of new fighting.

Convoys that have gone forward have driven past burnt ruins of settlements destroyed in previous raids. In a visit to the refugee camp at Massakoundou on Sunday, Lubbers called for Guinean troops to provide better protection for humanitarian relief efforts.

"We have already some progress there of better coordination with the government of Guinea," he told refugees at Massakoundou camp on Sunday. "Their military are instrumental to provide security."

Reuters contributed to this report.

Guinea refugees turned back as fighting flares
February 8, 2001

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