New York - The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, has sent an envoy to Guinea to investigate how to help as fighting between the army and rebels worsens and aid agencies fear for almost half a million refugees.
Officials of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and in the region have issued a series of warnings in the past week that the plight of displaced local people and refugees is critical in densely forested border territory which has become a war zone.
UN spokeswoman Ms Marie Okabe on Tuesday said Mr Annan had asked Mr Oluyemi Adeniji, his special representative in Sierra Leone, to go to neighbouring Guinea and Liberia as his envoy to assess the situation and make recommendations.
The Conakry government estimates that at least 94,000 civilians have fled the densely forested south-eastern Kissidougou region because of heavy fighting when the army fought off a rebel offensive at the weekend.