Thousands of IDPs displaced again

Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) fled a temporary site some 100 km north of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Sunday following exchanges of gunfire near the area, humanitarian sources said on Monday. By most accounts, some 20,000 IDPs have left the site, Sawmill, and are currently gathered at Klay Junction, 50 km to the south. However, one humanitarian NGO that sent a team to investigate the situation estimated the number of people at Klay Junction at between 6,000 and 8,000. It was still not clear on Monday whether the entire population of Sawmill had deserted the camp. The latest population movement started early Sunday morning after the IDPs and local residents heard gunshots nearby, sources said. As has been the case for several weeks now, no one was sure who was fighting whom. Some people referred to fighting between groups within the military, while others felt there had been clashes between the army and dissident groups opposed to the government of President Charles Taylor. Several NGOs told IRIN that the security situation had tightened. Security agents blocked most humanitarian workers from going to Sawmill and Klay Junction on Monday, and also prevented IDPs from moving closer to Monrovia, the sources said. However, some NGOs managed to provide emergency aid to the displaced. Jane Gibril of Save the Children-UK told IRIN that her agency has been providing medical relief, oral rehydration and high energy biscuits to children and other highly vulnerable IDPs, and trying to prevent the separation of children from their mothers. Medecins sans Frontieres has been providing clean water and other health aid, MSF's Marie-Noelle Rodriguez told IRIN.