People fleeing Togo in droves
2005-05-20 21:58
Geneva - The number of people who fled unrest before and after Togo's hotly disputed presidential poll last month has reached 32 000, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.
Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the figure was up from about 26 000 a week earlier.
The increase was largely due to the registration of refugees who had already crossed into neighbouring Ghana and Benin in recent weeks without being logged by UNHCR, Redmond noted.
UNHCR teams are continuing to discover isolated groups of refugees in remote areas, he said.
Meanwhile, he said, the actual inflow of refugees into Ghana and Benin has slowed.
No new arrivals were reported in Ghana in the past week, while the number crossing into Benin was down to about a hundred a day.
Last week, the UN launched an appeal for nearly $5m to help Togolese refugees.
Redmond said resources were running short as host families and aid agencies in Ghana and Benin tried to care for them.
The refugees began fleeing after a bitterly disputed April 24 presidential election in Togo, which triggered street fighting between opposition supporters a pro-government security forces.