MSF returns to IDP camp

A Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) team that recently returned to the Jenne Manna camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northwestern Liberia found that many recent arrivals there were in need of food, according to MSF's Marie-Noelle Rodrigue. "Many of the new arrivals are weak: they spent days and days walking through the bush," Rodrigue said in the latest MSF newsletter, issued on 1 October. Some, from Foya in the north, transited via Sierra Leone where they were forcibly recruited into rebel forces while others travelled through Guinea. The IDPs spoke of insecurity, harassment and food shortages during their journey to the camp, MSF reported. The new arrivals include children suffering from malnutrition who are now being treated in the camp's feeding centre, according to Rodrigue, who heads the MSF-France mission in Liberia. She added that there were also many cases of malaria among IDPs treated by the MSF team. Jenna Manna, built by MSF, currently holds about 7,000 people. MSF said it would soon be necessary to expand the camp to take in additional arrivals. Fighting between pro- and anti-government forces near Jenne Manna forced the medical aid organisation to evacuate its expatriate staff from the camp about a month ago. Since then, houses have been burned and people kidnapped. The whole area near the Sierra Leonean border is extremely volatile and there is no security guarantee for the local population, Rodrigue said.