Sierra Leone/Guinea border: Attacks on refugee camps in the Gueckedou area at the end April 2001, perpetrators, names of the camps, number of dead and injured

Information specific to attacks on refugee camps in the Gueckedou area at the end of April 2001 could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, the following information may be of interest. The Pan African News Agency (PANA), the USCR and USAID all state that attacks on refugee camps in the area of Gueckedou started in September 2000 (USCR 8 Dec. 2000; PANA 26 Mar. 2001; United States 31 Jan. 2001). Other reports indicate that there were further attacks on refugee camps in the district of Gueckedou (also knows as "the Parrot's Beak"), in south-eastern Guinea, between January and July 2001 (AFP 5 July 2001; ibid. 28 Mar. 2001; RFI 10 Apr. 2001; AI 5 Apr. 2001; All African.com 24 Jan. 2001; United States Jan. 2001; PANA 26 March 2001).

In September 2000, Guinea was the object of rebel attacks (PANA 5 April 2001),"near Gueckedou, [which] resulted in substantial loss of life, destruction of property, loss of crops and other means of livelihood, and the displacement of tens of thousands of Guineans and refugees" (United States 31 Jan. 2001). In the same month, President Lansana Conte of Guinea reportedly declared that "it was time for the refugees to go home" (AI 5 Apr. 2001).

Relations between Guinean local people and the refugees reportedly "soured after the out break of the conflict" (AFP 28 Mar. 2001). According to Amnesty International,

parties to the conflict include Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) based in both Sierra Leone and Liberia; the Guinea-based Liberian rebel group ULIMO-K; Guinean Civil Defence Forces; traditional Kamajor fighters from Sierra Leone; an elusive armed Guinean opposition group, the Rassemblement des Forces Democratiques de Guinée; and bans of villages who have, out of fear, begun to turn on their refugee neighbours (5 Apr. 2001).

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), '"since September 2000, a combination of Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front [RUF] rebels and armed Liberian forces repeatedly attacked and burned refugee camps and Guinean villages along the border, killing, injuring, abducting, and forcing their residents to flee"' (AFP 5 July 2001). Human Rights also notes that

security forces and vigilante groups in Guinea [beat], tortured and sexually assaulted scores of Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees, whom authorities [blamed] for a border conflict..."Human Rights Watch has also documented the cases of refugees who were tortured or beaten to death while detained in Forecariah Prison, southeast of Conakry" (ibid.).

PANA, citing UNHCR, sources reports that in late March 2001, refugee camps in the district of Gueckedou were "empty" after refugees, estimated to number approximately 130,000, fled "en masse" following an armed attack in Nongoa, 27 km south-west of Gueckedou, on 9 March 2001 (PANA 26 Mar. 2001). 3,148 refugees reportedly fled to the eastern provincial town of Kenema, en route to Sierra Leone, and 9,000 reportedly went "north towards the Katkama camp, 30 km from Gueckedou" (ibid.). Another refugee camp, the "Kola camp located about 50 miles (80 km) from the border, opened late in the year [2001] and housed nearly 6,000 refugees by year's end" (USCR 2002, 79). Other camps in the area include Massakoundou refugee camp which reportedly housed 30, 000 Sierra Leonian refugees, but which, following the border dispute among Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, was scheduled to be closed, with the refugees relocated to Koundaya [spelt Kountaya in some sources] and Albaderia (RFI 10 Apr. 2001).

Precise statistics on the number of dead and injured could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, the following statistics povided by Amnesty International and USAID may be of interest. An Amnesty International mission to Guinea found that,

while fleeing, countless refugees [were] killed or abducted by rebels. Others have disappeared after being abducted by Guinean soldiers, such as the nine refugees who disappeared after being arrested in Forecariah in September 2000. Checkpoints [sprung] up everywhere, sometimes set-up by the Guinean military, sometimes the local population, where refugees [were] forced to pay money or turn over their supply of rice and cooking oil in order to pass (5 Apr. 2001).

At the end of January 2001, USAID stated that "U.N. sources estimate that more than 1000 people have been killed in fighting between GOG forces and anti-government factions since September 1, 2000" (United States 31 Jan. 2001).

The USCR states that "Guinea hosted about 190,000 refugees at the end of 2001, including approximately 100,000 from Sierra Leone and some 90,000 from Liberia. At least 70, 000 refugees repatriated from Guinea to Sierra Leone during the year" (2002, 76).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 5 July 2001. "Guinean Security Forces, Civilians Beat, Torture Refugees." (NEXIS)

_____. 28 March 2001. "UN to Move Refugees Further Away from Guinea War Zone." (NEXIS)

All Africa.com. 24 January 2001. Ofeibea Quest-Arcton. "Nyaedou, Guinea, near the Liberian border with Sierra Leone and Guinea." [Accessed 22 Oct. 2002]

Amnesty International. 5 April 2001. "Guinea - Refugees Must not be Forced to Choose Between Death in Sierra Leone or Death in Guinea." (AI Index: AFR 29/003/2001- News Service Nr. 63) [Accessed 22 Oct. 2002]

Panafrican News Agency (PANA). 26 March 2001. "Refugee Flee Camps in Guinea." (NEXIS)

_____. 5 April 2001. "Human Rights Watch Reveals RUF Atrocities." (NEXIS)

Radio France Internationale [Paris, in French]. 10 April 2001. "Guinea Government Orders Closure of Refugee Camp." (BBC Monitoring 10 Apr. 2001/NEXIS)

United States. United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 31 January 2001. "Guinea - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #1 (FY 2001)." [Accessed 18 Oct. 2001]

US Committee for Refugees (USCR). 2002. World Refugee Survey. "Guinea."

_____. 8 December 2000. "Escalation of Attacks in Guinea Endangers Refugees; Poses Serious Challenge for UNHCR." [Accessed 18 Oct. 2002]

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

New African

Resource Centre. Country File.

Internet sites, including:

All Africa

Relief Web

Search engines, including:

Google

Mamma