Guinea. Economic analysis

Since the beginning of the 1990s the armed conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, later in Guinea-Bissau caused a mass refugee flow into Guinea (Africa's #1 country in total refugee number). By January 1999 Guinea had given refuge to 739,000 people - more than 10% of its own population. UNHCR is experiencing certain difficulties with refugee identification due to the fact that some ethnic groups both inhabit Guinea's bordering areas and live near the borders in the contiguous countries and this makes UNHCR insist on the estimated refugee number being 413,000 people.

Their best-loved areas are the border-line prefectures of the Woodland and the Coastal Guinea, even though in the recent years there has outlined a tendency of the increase in the number of refugees who settled in big towns, including Conakry. They practice primitive agricultural patterns of cutting down trees, burning them and using the ashes as fertilizers, and during the ten years of the refugees' stay in Guinea large forest areas were destroyed and farming land was impoverished.

The conditions of refugees staying in Guinea are very different from those in other countries, where they usually live in special camps managed by international organizations. Since the early 1990s Guinean government carries out a policy of refugee integration into the Guinean society, allowing them to enjoy most of the local civil rights, incl. the right to build housing and the right to enter the labour force market, where, by the way, they are quite welcome because their salary is usually lower than that of Guinean workers.

There is a number of governmental bodies dealing with refugees; the main one is the National Bureau for Refugee Coordination, attached to the Ministry of the Territorial Administration and Decentralization of Guinea. With the help of UNHCR and the World Food Programme the government is executing the National Programme for Liberia and Sierra Leone refugees. The Programme provides for the construction of water supply systems, medicare centers and primary schools, for carrying out mass vaccination and medicine promoting campaigns. Each prefecture has its own local bureau for refugee problems solution. Even after the conflict in Liberia had finally settled in 1997, 25% of the former Liberian refugees preferred to stay in Guinea.

A sudden drastic increase in the number of refugees fleeing from Sierra Leone in early 1999 was caused by aggravation of the conflict inside the country and led to escalation of tension around Guinean borders. Criminals and rebels disguise themselves as refugees, illegally cross the border and organize armed attacks at local villages. In 1998-1999 there is a sharp increase in the average number of city crimes performed by non-Guinean citizens. The size of Guinean armed subunits in the regions of refugee settlements has recently been enlarged. In June 1999 a full-scale campaign for checking the authenticity of refugee statuses was launched.

The work on the solution of refugee problems that was being executed in the conditions of a difficult economic situation in the country (in 1998 Guinea occupied #168 on the UN's life quality scale) faced serious financial problems. The financial help that was coming from UNHCR, FAO, International Committee of the Red Cross, World Food Programme and some others. In 1997 UNHCR alone allotted to Guinea $21. 5 mln. The biggest funds are coming from France, USA, Canada and Japan on the bilateral basis. Taking into account the unsuccessful attempt to solve the refugees issue on the local level, the Guinean authorities decided to appeal to the world community. Conakry definitely considers the provided help to be incomplete and insufficient. The country's administration insists on receiving financial funds to support the Guineans who happened to live in the areas of the most dense refugees concentration. During his visit in Conakry in July 1999 General Secretary of the UN Koffi Annan studied the refugee question and stressed the necessity to extend the international involvement. This problem was also in the limelight at an international conference in Brussels organized under the aegis of the UN.

But the only final solution would be settling the crises in the neighbouring regions. The end of armed conflict in Liberia and the relaxation of tensions in Guinea-Biskau have already made it possible to repatriate thousands of refugees. This process continued after the belligerent sides in Sierra Leone signed a peace treaty in July 1999. By now the refugee situation in Guinea has improved.