Guinea Shows the Strains of Aiding Refugees

Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing bloodshed in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau have sought temporary shelter in this neighboring West African country over the past decade.

The search for a quiet place in one of the continent’s most volatile regions has turned the Guinean border into a sprawling collection of refugee settlements. About 80 clusters of hastily built mud-and-grass huts extend across 300 miles of lush, tropical rain forests.

“Guinea has been extremely generous,” said Sadako Ogata, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, whose office runs 30 camps in the country, including this home for 25,000 people. “They have never closed their borders.”

Good neighborliness, however, is exacting a heavy toll on a country that ranks among the poorest in the world.

Guinea still accommodates its uprooted neighbors at a scale unparalleled in the region, but Guineans are growing resentful at the special assistance they see foreigners receiving. In recent talks with visiting officials from the United States and other nations, authorities here have warned that the country’s goodwill is wearing thin.

“It is not good for the refugees back home, but many are going home anyway because when things go wrong here in Guinea, people immediately blame the refugees,” said Seffe Kelley, a Liberian who works at a resettlement center at the Guinea-Liberian border. “Some of the refugees in Guinea have been beaten up and put in jail for crimes they did not commit. It is becoming that kind of place.”

Although international donors pick up most of the tab, Guinean officials say the seemingly endless wave of humanity--Liberian refugees now returning home are quickly replaced by newly homeless from Sierra Leone’s civil war--is diverting limited state resources, ruining the environment and exposing the country to security risks.

Several months ago, about 35 rebels from Sierra Leone attacked the Guinean village of Koindu, which is near two large refugee camps. Ten people were killed in what officials believe was a mission to replenish food stocks at a rebel stronghold. Last July, the rebels also attacked refugee settlements in nearby Forokonia, and there were other cross-border raids as recently as last week.

In hopes of preventing more attacks, the U.N. is spending about $4 million to move 50,000 refugees away from the border. U.N. officials are also imposing new screening measures for arrivals from Sierra Leone to keep out rebels posing as refugees. Guinean authorities have welcomed the changes but say more help is needed.

“The insecurity in Sierra Leone is not only affecting refugees but also the Guinean people,” said Minister of Interior Zainoul Sanoussi, whose department is responsible for the estimated 470,000 refugees in the country. “It is important to target the assistance to benefit refugees and the local population.”

Government officials complain that international organizations have gone to great expense to provide fresh water, food and medical facilities at refugee camps, even as nearby villages go without basic necessities. That is not the “lesson of generosity” that Guinea’s 7.5 million residents should be learning, the officials say.

On a recent visit to Conakry, the capital, Ogata promised to drum up support for international aid for Guinea, which most everyone agrees is crucial if this nation is to remain hospitable to the region’s dispossessed. She also visited this camp to help draw attention to the country’s difficult task in playing host to so many refugees.

U.N. officials say, however, that getting money will not be easy; funding is short, even for the most urgent programs. The U.N. refugee agency has requested $24 million for its Guinea programs this year, but officials have been warned to expect much less. Continuing strife in the region, moreover, has people crossing the border every day--with new and pressing demands.

And sadly, Ogata said, the world seems to be increasingly indifferent to West Africa’s plight.

“The international community is a little tired of refugees,” Ogata said. “This is a faraway place. It is not Kosovo.”