Food scarcity for Daru IDPs

An inter-agency team that visited the eastern town of Daru on Friday estimated the new internally displaced population there at 5,500, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its 24 July situation report. The IDPs are divided between Daru (3,500) and Malema (2,000), a village to the northeast across the river. One major concern is a food shortage due to the inaccessibility of the Kenema-Daru road. Rice, if and when available, has doubled in price, OCHA said. The UN agency WFP, it added, intended to assess the food situation there soon. The majority of displaced people in Daru said they wanted to return to their villages so they could resume planting their crops. Some had started returning while others had sent their children home to assess the situation, OCHA reported the team as saying. Some civilians fled their homes because of the recent military operation by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to rescue over 200 UN peacekeepers encircled by rebels in the eastern town of Kailahun since May. Other civilians said they left because they feared a larger operation or retaliation by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). All the IDPs are living with families and relatives, increasing the number of household by five to seven, OCHA reported. The humanitarian mission included representatives from the International Medical Corps, International Committee of the Red Cross, Save the Children Fund, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam, OCHA reported. Daru clinic reports doubling of patients The number of patients at the IMC clinic in Daru more than doubled following ‘Operation Khukri’(UNAMSIL’s military operation) on 15 July, OCHA reported. In response to the situation, IMC opened a temporary clinic in Malema and a total of 1,473 patients were attended to in five days. Most were treated for malaria and acute respiratory infections. Some cases of diarrhoea were treated but a major outbreak has not been observed so far. Only two cases of bullet wounds have been treated, OCHA