GUINEA* (30 May)
First rains were registered in the south in late March, and subsequently covered the entire country in May, allowing land preparation and first plantings.
The first official estimate of 2002 cereal production, mostly rice, is about 1.04 million tonnes, which is average. The presence of a large refugee population and the persistent instability in the sub-region have exacted a heavy toll on the country, which currently hosts more than 100 000 Liberians and Sierra Leonean refugees. Since the civil war erupted in Côte d'Ivoire in September 2002, tens of thousands of people have entered the country, including returning Guinean nationals, Ivorians and Liberians. In addition, there are still some 82 000 IDPs in the country, displaced by the armed conflict over the period September 2000 to March 2001. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) appealed in early May for a further US $3.1 million to help refugees in Guinea and Guineans displaced within their own country in view of a weakening economy and continuing conflict in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia.