NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2001

In a burgeoning crisis being compared to Goma, when hundreds of thousands fled into Zaire to escape the Rwandan genocide, more than 50,000 returned Sierra Leoneans are living in makeshift camps around Freetown.

The refugee flood has its roots in the inability of the British- backed Sierra Leone Army (SLA) to crush the Liberian-backed Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and other groups who control the northern two-thirds of Sierra Leone. The rebels are increasingly moving into Guinea, where the Sierra Leonean refugees have been safe for 10 years.

The crisis has been worsened by xenophobic comments from the Guinean president, Lansana Conte, who blames the Sierra Leoneans for importing their war to his country. Sierra Leoneans in the Guinean capital, Conakry, speak of a "pogrom." They say the military are killing them and burning their homes. In southeastern Guinea, local militias have destroyed at least six refugee camps.

The Department for International Development (DFID) swiftly pledged more than 5 million pounds to help the returnees. But aid agencies and charities are powerless to halt the human tide. Sahr Chendeka, aged 70, arrived at Jui returnee camp near Freetown in December after fleeing Gueckedou in southeastern Guinea, where he had lived for two years. "Everyone wants to come back to Sierra Leone," said Mr. Chendeka, whose sister and 18-year-old daughter disappeared in the rush to flee Gueckedou. "The Guineans were good to us for a long time, but that is over now. As soon as it is safe to go to my home in Kono, I will do so."

Jui camp, run by the United Nations refugee body (UNHCR) is designed to be a transit settlement where people can stay for a few weeks. But it already houses 3,000 people, most from Kono and Kailahun, the diamond and rebel stronghold, who have little prospect of going home.

The streets of Freetown are teeming with people, many from the dozen camps hastily created around the capital. Petty crime is increasing, as are armed robberies, raising fears that some refugees are smuggling weapons into the capital.

Some 1,200 returnees are arriving every week aboard two ships from Conakry, the Fanta and the Overbeck, chartered by the International Office of Migration. Charities in Freetown, such as Save the Children, are trying to help the returnees, some with families split by flight and some robbed of all they own or mistreated along the way.

Jill Clark, of Save the Children, said in Freetown: "These early arrivals are people with a little money who have been able to pay their way. Behind them will be the poorest of the poor, in far worse condition."

(C) 2001 The Independent – London. via Bell&Howell Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.