Madeleine Gomou, a nurse in the village of Konia-Aviation, finds it all but impossible to do her job.
”We are living in complete deprivation here. There’s not even potable water. We have to take care of patients in spite of our lack of resources and the means to do tests worthy of the name,” she said, pointing to boxes of medicines that were expected to supply the surrounding population of 2 500 for just four days. The only food available at the dilapidated clinic where Gomou works was cassava paste.
In 2000, this settlement in southern Guinea was one of several towns and villages attacked by army deserters and rebels from Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF), amongst others.
The RUF members were backed by Charles Taylor, then president of Liberia, whose troops are also said to have participated in the attacks. Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are neighbouring states.
The violence was prompted, in part, by a long-running dispute between Liberia and Guinea, which had allowed Liberian rebels to set up camp in its territory.
But, while a number of the attacks staged in 2000 reportedly targeted Liberian rebel bases in Guinea, others were apparently aimed at undermining the Conakry government. According to Mohamed Lamine Fofana, who claimed to represent the Guinean dissidents and RUF troops, the aim of the rebellion was to topple President Lansana Conte.
The violence led to the displacement of thousands of Guineans, in a region already home to hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia who had fled civil war in their own countries.
International aid was promised to help the area get back on its feet. But Gomou — and many like her — are still waiting for this assistance to materialise.
”When the rebel attacks took place, we welcomed the Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, hoping that the international community would come to our aid. Today, we realise that it was nothing more than promises because we are still short of everything in this village,” she says.
About five kilometres away, the settlement of Bangoueta has a similar tale to tell. The primary school, which only caters for refugee children, lacks educational materials — and can only accept a limited number of children.
According to Guinea’s finance ministry, millions of dollars worth of damage was inflicted in the course of fighting five years ago.
Ari Toubo Ibrahim, the representative in Guinea of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, says disturbances in the south have had a knock-on effect as far as regional food security is concerned.
”The southern part of Guinea had always produced an agricultural surplus, especially in rice, and today it is seeking to make up its losses. It’s a terrible situation, not only for Guinea but also for villages in surrounding countries which are supplied from the (southern) region,” he said.
”Around Nzerekore alone, there are about 300 000 people native to the area who are living in true deprivation.”
The arrival of additional refugees from neighbouring Ivory Coast, plagued by violence since a military coup in 1999, has only served to aggravate matters.
”It’s time that people understood there is an emergency here, especially when it comes to humanitarian needs,” says Ibrahim.
While Guineans wait for attention to be paid to their plight, aid has been supplied to refugees — many of whom now enjoy a better standard of living than their hosts.
This could cause tensions between refugees and local inhabitants to flare, says United Nations Development Programme representative Kinsley Amaning, adding that refugee aid needs to be co-ordinated with the needs of Guineans.
”We asked three years ago that a mission come here to do an assessment. Now that it’s been done, we hope to see changes as quickly as possible, but we still need donor aid,” he said.
Michael Lindvall, head of mission for the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, admits that things could have been done differently.
”We admit we made mistakes. Our technical mission will soon prepare its report, and we hope that the local people will see results very soon.”
For the moment, there appears to be little prospect of smoothing relations between Guineans and refugees by having the latter return home through voluntary repatriation programmes.
Most appear to believe that their countries are still too dangerous, even though peace accords have been struck in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
”Personally, I feel I cannot go back to Liberia under present conditions. I have neither mother nor father there, and the news from the interior of the country is not good,” said Fanta Donso, a Liberian refugee from the Kola camp, in Nzerekore.
But, while they remain in Guinea, the refugees are taking a toll on the environment.
”These populations have greatly contributed to damaging environments by cutting down large numbers of trees and hunting. We need to repair all that damage now,” says Ibrahim.
Amaning says additional dangers lie in the failure to reintegrate into society most of the volunteer soldiers who helped Guinean troops combat the rebels in 2000.
”A solution to their problem has to be found so that they don’t end up being recruited into other wars and recreating instability in the sub-region,” he notes. According to a military source in the Guinean capital, Conakry, there were about 8 000 such volunteers. — IPS