"I had to run for my life"

 Thousands of refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia who have been living in Guinea for the last couple of years have fled the country after a an outbreak of widespread violence against them. The attacks were triggered by a series of cross border attacks by militia from Sierra Leone and Liberia. The fighting along the border has also made thousands of people in these three countries homeless.

Teresa sits on the floor staring at the ground of the court barrie, the central meeting place, in the Sierra Leonean village of Bitifu Junction. "I had to leave my children behind, two boys, seven and eleven years old", the 27 year old mother murmurs. She holds the family documents in her hand all the time, desperately hoping to find somebody who could tell her something about the whereabouts of her children.

Teresa is one of the thousands of Sierra Leoneans and Liberians who have been driven out from neighbouring Guinea since the beginning of September by Guinean security forces and civilians. They demand their expulsion after a series of cross boarder attacks into Guinea. The refugees living in camps along the border are suspected of supporting the attackers.

"Her husband was killed right in front of her by Guinean militias", another refugee says pointing at Teresa. Reports of violance by Guinean police and civilians, including beating and rapes, has caused fear and panic among the refugees. 500 000 live in Guinea – 360 000 from Sierra Leone, 130 000 from Liberia, driven out from their countries by civil war, two to five years ago.

Since September some 9,000 returnees from Guinea have come to the small port of Barbara near the Guinean border, north of the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown. Abdul Karim Kamara returned after having lived for three years in Guinea. "Our camp was burnt by Guinean civilians", he says. "They burnt everything". According to Abdul three refugees in Daghagbi-camp were killed by crossfiring between Guinean troops and militia from Sierra Leone. (Guinean dissidents are supposed to be involved in the fighting as well.) Staff members of ABC-development, a Guinean NGO, confirm that two camps were totally destroyed and that all the other camps are surrounded by Guinean troops and nobody is allowed to move out.

The situation for the refugees has become difficult because UNHCR has called back all its staff as a result of one of their staff members being killed in a cross border attack from Liberia. With the help of local NGOs, UNHCR has resumed food distribution and is in talks with the Guinean government to remove the camps from the border area to safer places inland, according to the UNHCR office in Geneva.

ABC-Development is concerned about growing tension between Guinean civilians, including around 50,000 displaced by the cross border attacks, and the refugees. One of the main reasons for these tensions is the fact that the refugees are receiving assistance, while the displaced and civilian population are left to their own means, ABC-development says.

"The refugees are afraid of the Guineans", Andrew Saskeh, programme Officer of ABC-Development says. During the last two month hundreds of desperate refugees, anxiously waiting to get a ticket for a ferry leaving to Freetown, were camped under plastic sheeting on the totally overcrowded compound of the Sierra Leonean embassy in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. "Up to 15 000 people in and around Conakry want to leave", ambassador Seikobasah Saccoh estimates. These are not only refugees, but also economic migrants who have been working in Guinea for years.  

Alicious Adama came to Guinea a year ago. After his wife was taken to a detention center for three days the family went to the embassy to return to Sierra Leone. "Everyone is desperate", he says. 23 year old Ramatu H. Bangura was told to leave her appartment by the police. "I had to leave most of my belongings and the police took the rest - my earrings and my watch", she says. "There is too much harassment", Ramatu adds.

Most of the 10,000 to 15,000 returnees who came to Freetown over the last weeks can not return to their villages because they are in the northern part of the country, the diamond area, still held by the rebels from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Senap Sesay, for example, from Kisudu lost everything. Leaving her husband in Conakry she came to the Waterloo transit camp near Freetown with her three children. "We were urged by security forces to leave Guinea", she says. Now the 28 year old mother does not know were to go.

It is not only the returnees who have no place to live. People in Kambia district along the border to Guinea are fleeing their villages because of shelling across the border. In retaliation to the rebel attacks the Guinean army is shelling the border area. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the area totals about 15 000. "In the last two weeks 3000 IDPs and refugees arrived", the representative of the UN forces (UNAMSIL) in Barbara said. They are arriving in small boats. After they have been registered they are sent to the villages in the area, which are becoming overcrowded. Barbara for example, a village of originally only 500 people, now has over 7,000.

"I had to leave everything behind and run for my life", Sorai Balla Kamara says pointing at his worn out plastic sandals. "Three people died during the attack", he adds. The 75 year old man has lost all his belongings for the second time within the past three years. First he had to flee his village because the RUF rebels occupied the area. Then he had to flee his new home as well because of the cross border bombardement. "Now we are here in hope of humanitarian help", the old man says.

But the IDPs do not get any support at the moment, only the refugees. "The displaced also need food, medicine, clothing, water, blankets and plastic sheeting", the UNAMSIL representative points out. The Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL), a member of the ACT alliance, is concerned about the situation of the IDPs in the Barbara area and is preparing to help them. CCSL has already started to distribute medicine.