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4,000 IDPs in Mile 91

    ABIDJAN

    An estimated 4,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have left their homes in the north and are now in the Mile 91 area, some 115 km east of the capital, a UN humanitarian official told IRIN on Monday.

    Humanitarian officials are concerned that the IDPs, from the towns of Makeni and Magburaka, are heading towards Freetown where existing facilities for displaced people are overstretched. An inter-agency team will probably be travelling to the area towards the end of the week to assess needs, the official said.

    The civilians are believed to be fleeing the north because of increased tension and fighting between pro-government forces and rebels in the area, especially around Lunsar on the road to Makeni.On Friday the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Oluyemi Adeniji, said that aerial surveys of Lunsar, on the road to Makeni, did not indicate any military presence there suggesting that both sides had withdrawn after the Revolutionary United Front attacked government forces on Wednesday.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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