BBC News Online: World: Africa

Refugee conference opens in Guinea

Senior aid workers and government officials from various African countries have gathered in Guinea for a conference aimed at improving the plight of refugees on the continent.

The delegates will try and improve conditions for the legal protection of refugees under the International Refugee Convention.

Officials said they were confident they would be able to persuade national governments to tighten up their respect for refugee law -- but said there was little they could do to stop the wars and atrocities which make people flee their homes in the first place. Guinea, where the meeting is taking place, is believed to be the home of some half-a-million refugees from conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service