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A recent agreement between the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and the Community Defence Forces (CDF) to allow commercial trucks to use the Kenema-Daru route in Sierra Leone’s Eastern Province seems to have fallen through.
On Saturday six vehicles, three trucks - one carrying rice and palm oil - and three taxis, were captured at Segbwema, some 15 km west of Daru, and taken to an RUF base, OCHA reported Save the Children Fund (SCF) as saying.
There have been reports of small numbers of RUF fighters disarming at the Daru disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) camp, one of two camps still operational countrywide. The other is at Lungi, north of Freetown.
Aid agencies are gradually expanding activities in Daru following the recent arrival of some 5,000 new IDPs from nearby chiefdoms in Kailahun District. In the eastern town of Kenema, the humanitarian situation remains “under control” despite the recent influx of more than 7,000 IDPs who fled their homes after UNAMSIL’s military operation to rescue encircled peacekeepers.
Camps are reported to be overcrowded and current facilities and services are under strain.
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
