The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is set to close its office in the Kissidougou region of eastern Guinea on Saturday after having assisted thousands of refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone over an 18-year period.

The UNHCR regional spokesman for West Africa, Francis Kpatinde, told IRIN on Friday that the Kissidougou office was being closed because repatriation of refugees in that region had been completed.

The agency’s office in eastern Guinea began operating in 1989 when Liberia's civil war erupted. Conflict broke out in Sierra Leone in 1991. Camps in the Kissidougou area hosted tens of thousands of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees. Eastern Guinea lies between the two countries.

UNHCR said Guinea hosted the largest number of Liberian refugees in the sub-region and the country still hosts some 39,000 refugees, including more than 30,000 Liberians. The rest are from Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire.

"We voluntarily repatriated all those who wanted to come home and, in fact, it is a success story for that region and we are now focusing our programs to accelerate the return of more refugees in other camps in Guinea," Kpatinde said.

Since March last year, about 16,000 out of the 18,000 Liberian refugees in the Kissidougou region were repatriated.

"The remaining 2,000 refugees have been relocated to other camps, as under our policy we cannot force any refugee to be repatriated. The program is voluntary. They will be encouraged to come home," the regional spokesman said.

Since the voluntary repatriation of Liberian refugees began in October 2004, the agency said more than 40,000 people had returned from Guinea. Some 50,000 other Liberians returned from other parts of the region.

Kpatinde said continuous information campaigns are being carried out in camps in regional countries hosting Liberian refugees, such as Ghana, to inform them that Liberia is peaceful.