George, When it rains, it pours. While 3,000 are fleeing the fighting in Liberia, thousands more are reported to be on the move away from Bouake where it appears that fighting amongst the civilian population is currently underway. The internally displaced persons in Cote d'Ivoire alone number in their thousands, if not tens of thousands. The entire sub-region is now on the verge of total disintegration. Niger, Nigeria and Ghana have expressed concern about the fate of their nationals and are in the process of evacuating them. Nigeria has announced its intention to send in troops, pending Senate approval, to protect its citizens in CI estimated to be two million. Burkina Faso, meanwhile, is poised, according to unconfirmed reports, to move in to protect its citizens. Despite all these developments, France is saying very little, at least not publicly about the role of their troops in the country. The question being asked is are they going to still maintain their position i.e. to protect their nationals and provide logistical support to the Gbagbo Government or are they going to reassess their current role in the conflict. If you ask me, reassessment is long overdue. Cheers!! Sidi Sanneh ----Original Message Follows---- From: "George Sarr" <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: [log in to unmask] To: <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [>-<] PST: 3 000 flee Liberia fighting Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 06:31:11 -0400 3 000 flee Liberia fighting Abidjan - Renewed fighting between rebels and government in eastern Liberia has forced some 3 000 people to seek refuge in Sierra Leone, the United Nations refugee agency reported on Monday. The influx from the town of Kolahun exacerbated the refugee situation at the border between the two countries and prompted a multi-agency relief effort to ease the pressure there, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "Fighting between government troops and rebels from the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) intensified around Kolahun town in upper Lofa County, north-western Liberia, on October 2," the agency stated. "Villagers fled and started crossing the border at Manduvulahun in Kailahun district, eastern Sierra Leone, on Thursday. At its peak, there were up to 200 Liberians arriving every hour," it added. The situation had reportedly stabilised by the weekend but was still tense at the border, according to the UNHCR. United Nations military observers are understood to be watching the situation closely. The influx brought to 16 000 the total number of Liberian refugees waiting to be transferred to camps in Sierra Leone from the border areas of Kailahun District. Some arrived as early as May but declined to be relocated to camps further inside Sierra Leone in the hope of returning home as soon as peace was restored in Liberia. UNHCR said on Monday that the new arrivals appeared to be in bad condition, with many considered to be "vulnerable cases". Sixty two of those, including some malnourished children, were quickly identified and referred to Kailahun hospital by the nongovernmental humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF-France). Many of the refugees were women and children under six, who were in dire need of food, shelter and medical assistance, UNHCR added. Prior to last week's arrivals, the last wave of Liberian refugees into Sierra Leone reached a peak in June, when there were 10 000 arrivals. Sierra Leone is now hosting some 60 000 refugees who have fled fighting in Liberia, 46 000 of whom have arrived there this year alone. About 38 000 in camps, 16 000 are at the border awaiting transfer to camps and a further 8 000 live in urban areas of Sierra Leone, according to UNHCR statistics. - IRIN ô¿ô ~ George -- Au Revoir ____________ __o -/ _/ _________ -\<,_ _/ / _/_/_/ (_)/(_) _/_/ eor _/ g_/e _/_/ [log in to unmask] http://www.gambiansonline.com « L'un des fondements de la morale tient dans l'emploi judicieux des mots adéquats, au bon moment et au bon endroit. » « "Sahn joong moe low ful how jee yah ching wong" - "When the mountain has no tigers, the monkey will also declare himself king." Chinese Proverb » « A bird is in the air but its mind is on the ground (Mandinka)- Wherever you are it is important to remember where you come from and what is important. » _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~