Guinea
Hundreds killed in attack on Guinean town

afrol.com, 7 December - Unidentified "rebels" have attacked the Guinean town Guéckédou and the UN regional refugee office in the town, killing 360 people and wounding more than 1000. The terrorists, believed to be Liberian or Sierra Leonean, were only driven out of Guéckédou by Guinean troops today, after occupying the town for almost twenty-four hours.

Guéckédou, a town of 31,000 people, is an important Guinean regional centre close to the Sierra Leonean and Liberian border, also housing thousands of refugees from these neighbour countries. Guineans fear that the armed conflict in their neighbour countries might spill over, as the "rebels" there are pushed to retreat. The attack on Guéckédou marks the first attack on a major town after several months of armed attacks by unidentified terrorists on villages in the region.

Cross-border attacks - reportedly from Liberia and Sierra Leone - began intensifying in August. A one-month lull in attacks ended in late November, when border villages again were attacked. 

A Red Cross official in the town, Umar Issa Damagaram, told the BBC that more than 1000 people were wounded and many homes were burned by the rebels. The Guinean Government has put the number killed at 360. The terrorists burned public buildings, business premises, vehicles and cut down telephone lines.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR today warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Guinea and reported its office in the southwestern town of Guéckédou was destroyed during fighting between Government troops and "rebels". UNHCR officials Thursday were trying to determine the status of the agency’s local staff members in the town, which came under terrorist attack on Wednesday morning.

Yesterday, there were reports of panic among the population of Guéckédou following a radio broadcast by Rally for the "Democratic Forces of Guinea" terrorists warning that they now controlled the surrounding areas and would soon attack the city itself. First gunfire was reported in the town early on Wednesday. Guéckédou residents attempting to flee towards Kissidougou earlier in the week were reportedly blocked by the Guinean army, which was apparently trying to contain the population outflow. A checkpoint had reportedly been erected in Faranah prefecture to prevent a population outflow from Kissidougou to Conakry.

Guinea is host to Africa’s second-largest refugee population, including 130,000 Liberians and 330,000 Sierra Leoneans. Until recently, Guinea’s relative stability offered some protection for these refugees, but now Sierra Leoneans and Liberians are returning to their home lands in large number. "We are now on the verge of a major humanitarian catastrophe in which both refugees and tens of thousands of local residents may be displaced within Guinea itself. Local residents are also being killed," UNHCR head Sadako Ogata today stated. The UN Agency has reports indicating that thousands of Guinean civilians have fled Guéckédou over the past two days, heading northwards toward the town of Kissidougou.

In the Nzerekore region of southeastern Guinea, meanwhile, the Governor has informed UNHCR of plans to evacuate the entire civilian population from Thuo, across the border from the Liberia’s Nimba County. The region has reportedly been the scene of recent cross-border conflict. 

The Guinean Government already has accused Liberian and Sierra Leonean rebels of being behind the so-called "Democratic Forces of Guinea". Further, Guinean relations with Liberia's President Charles Taylor, himself a scrupulous ex-"rebel", have deteriorated over the recent "rebel attacks" as there are reasons to believe that his Government might be involved. Liberia has interests in destabilising the Guinean border area, as it houses oppositional refugees. Charles Taylor also was behind the establishment of the Sierra Leonean rootless RUF terrorist, which are responsible for nine years of civil war over diamond resources in that country.

While armed men from Sierra Leone, as well as Liberia, are accused of carrying out the cross-border attacks that have raised regional tension, the dispute is largely between Liberia and Guinea. Each country has accused the other of harbouring dissidents seeking to destabilize its government. Guinea's prime minister, Lamine Sidime, earlier has accused Charles Taylor of being behind the border attacks, saying that "everything points to the fact that it is an external aggression from Liberia which has, for years, been preparing to engage in war with Guinea."

Source: Based on UNHCR and afrol archives

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