The United States is deeply concerned about the humanitarian impact of the instability along Guinea’s borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia. Guinea has long been one of Africa’s most hospitable nations, hosting, for more than ten years now, as many as half a million refugees fleeing the ravages of war in neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Since September 2000, a series of increasingly brutal cross-border attacks into southern Guinea has resulted in over 1,000 Guinean and refugee casualties, and the death of a United Nations aid worker. Instability in the region has caused the dislocation of tens of thousands of refugees and forced as many as 150,000 Guineans to flee their homes.

The U.S. Government is providing $5 million in emergency refugee and migration assistance funds in addition to existing programs for refugees and conflict victims, allocated as follows:

• $3.5 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to respond to the emergency needs of refugees in Guinea principally through a program of relocation to safe sites within Guinea.

• $1.25 million to the World Food Program for its efforts to feed the refugees uprooted by the insecurity in Guinea.

• $250,000 to the International Organization for Migration to assist in the voluntary repatriation by sea of Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea.

The United States remains gravely concerned about the fate of refugees and local populations in areas that have been cut off from humanitarian assistance as a result of the fighting in southern Guinea. We support the efforts of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and its implementing partners to relocate vulnerable people away from unsafe border areas. We call on all regional leaders to take every action to stop the cross-border attacks that have endangered refugee and civilian populations in Guinea.

This assistance package complements ongoing U.S. Government relief programs in Guinea that totaled some $11 million in earmarked funds in Fiscal Year 2000 in addition to contributions to UNHCR for its Africa programs including those in Guinea. The United States believes that the protection and care of refugees and the pursuit of permanent solutions for refugee crises are shared international responsibilities and calls on other donors to strengthen their efforts as well in support of humanitarian assistance programs in Guinea.

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