20,000 to 30,000 newly displaced people in Freetown

Thousands of people displaced by fighting in areas just outside the Freetown peninsula arrived in the Sierra Leonean capital during the past few days, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) quoted aid agencies based in Freetown as saying. On Wednesday, an assessment mission by UN humanitarian agencies to the outskirts of Freetown found that Waterloo and Grafton camps, occupied by people displaced during the rebel invasion of Freetown in January 1999, were emptying rapidly. Up to 2,000 people were found carrying their belongings on foot along the road from Waterloo to Freetown. But on Thursday, many UN humanitarian agencies, as well as ICRC, reported that many displaced people had started to return to Waterloo, leaving some 20,000 to 30,000 in the environs of central Freetown. “There is a perception that the situation on the peninsula is improving although people are still anxious over the disappearance of [Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader] Foday Sankoh,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sierra Leone Kingsley Amaning said on Thursday. “Most of the new arrivals are going to friends and families and some to existing camps,” a humanitarian source told IRIN. Approximately 400 to 500 people displaced by recent fighting in Newton and Masiaka (east and northeast of Freetown respectively) are in need of shelter, according to ICRC. Food aid and medical assistance are the most urgent humanitarian requirements in Freetown, according to aid agencies. Following an assessment of food needs on Thursday, WFP said that it would this week provide food to some 67,000 displaced in Freetown. These include the new arrivals as well as people displaced 16 months ago, when the rebels invaded and briefly occupied parts of the Sierra Leone capital. In addition, five mobile and 19 stationary health facilities, as well as several hospitals, continue to operate in Freetown with UN and NGO support, OCHA reported. Moreover, UNICEF has pre-positioned materials to support ongoing water and sanitation programmes to respond to any deterioration in the situation, OCHA added. Humanitarian situation outside Freetown Aid programmes have been curtailed in areas where fighting has taken place, notably Makeni and Magburaka in the Northern Province, and Kailahun district in the Eastern Province, according to OCHA. However, in parts of the Eastern and Southern provinces which are accessible - in particular in Kenema, Bo, Pujehun and Bonthe - food, health, water and sanitation assistance continue to be provided. WFP said it was providing food to more than 33,000 IDPs in Bo and Kenema and supporting orphanages, rehabilitation, agricultural and therapeutic feeding programmes. Health, water and sanitation also continue in secure areas, OCHA said.