/ 14 December 2000

94 000 FLEE FIGHTING IN GUINEA

RENEWED heavy fighting between government troops and insurgents has driven at least 94 000 desperate people to flee the Kissidougou region of southern Guinea in two days, the UN refugee agency said. The desperate plight of hundreds of thousands of local people and refugees caught up in the conflict in Guinea’s border area was a “huge problem” for the UNHCR, its spokesman said, since it was virtually impossible to reach them and help them. – AFP