Due the severe refugee crisis in the West African state of Guinea and the mounting tensions in the region, ACT members Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) have decided to send two teams to Guinea to assess the needs and to send a proposal for an ACT Appeal.

Some 450,000 Liberians and Sierra Leoneans have fled from civil wars in their countries in the 1990s to neighbouring Guinea. Cross-border fighting which began last September and fresh fighting over the last couple of weeks have been raising regional tension continuously. Caught in the middle are refugees and Guinean civilians. They are at the centre of the world’s worst refugee crisis.

The civil war which devastated Liberia and Sierra Leone now threatens to spill over into Guinea, which is the target of cross-border attacks by armed men from the neighbouring countries.

Hundreds of people have died since early September 2000, when the fighting started. Guinea says Liberian forces and Sierra Leonean rebels are helping Guinean dissidents launch the attacks. Liberia on the other hand accuses Guinea of harboring dissidents seeking to destabilize its government.

UNHCR estimates there are 180,000 refugees and 70,000 internally displaced Guineans trapped by the conflict between Guinea government forces and the rebels. They are cut off in the Parrot Peak area of Guinea, jutting into the rebel-held area of Sierra Leone, in the south of Guinea at its eastern borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The refugees have come under attack from Guineans who blame them for the cross-border raids. The refugees report they have been harassed by Guinean civilians and security forces. More than 30,000 have already returned home from Guinea, and thousands more are queuing up to follow despite the continuing civil war in Sierra Leone. But the Guinean army has surrounded the refugee camps not allowing a great number out in fear this could destabilize the area.

The few who still have money can buy a place in a packed vehicle and pay off security forces at checkpoints to travel for more than 600 km to reach the Guinean capital Conakry, from where boats sail to Sierra Leone. Others, more desperate, have chosen to make the hazardous return by foot through rebel-held territory in Sierra Leone, where they run the risk of forced recruitment into the rebel ranks.

The UNHCR has started moving refugees from camps in the areas which are still accessible to new camps further north and is calling for a humanitarian corridor into Sierra Leone.

A team of three to four staff from LWF Mauritania and LWF Liberia/Sierra Leone, which will be joined by the NCA team, will be on their way as of tomorrow. The LWF team has been given the following tasks:

• To establish contact with UN Agencies, NGOs and Church partners if any, who are involved or likely to be involved in addressing the humanitarian needs.
• Obtain and study available assessment and other relevant reports as well as undertake further assessments, if necessary, to determine specific needs and interventions.
• Based on the needs assessments, likely available capacities and resources, formulate an ACT Appeal as per the prescribed ACT format and guidelines. However the decision to issue an ACT Appeal will be made in consultation with all concerned.
• Compile and send together with the Appeal, the Team’s Assessment and other reports if any.
• The time frame for the mission is expected to be two weeks. The team will be equipped with the Liberia’s program sat phone.