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Monday, February 12, 2001, updated at 14:12(GMT+8) | |||||||||||||
World | |||||||||||||
Thousands More Flee Guinea War ZoneThousands of refugees are continuing to stream out of contested border areas of southern Guinea, contributing to what the UN refugee agency calls the most serious refugee crisis in the world.On Sunday morning, refugees 15km (10 miles) from the border with Liberia heard artillery explosions and fled north towards safety, joining at least 40,000 other people who have fled fighting in the last two days. Some 250,000 people - mostly refugees from earlier wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia - are already trapped by the conflict between Guinea Government forces and rebels. UN refugee chief Ruud Lubbers visited camps near Massakoundou on Sunday, and said the problem was "all about security". The former Dutch prime minister promised help in evacuating refugees from the war zone, but said that ending the fighting was the responsibility of governments and the international community. "We need a corridor of security and safety for refugees and humanitarian workers," he told journalists. Press reports that refugee representatives in the camps told Mr Lubbers that their goal was to return to their homes in Sierra Leone and Liberia, or to be repatriated in a safe third country.
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