Ex-rebels detain polio vaccinators

Three polio vaccinators have been detained by former rebels in Segebwema, eastern Sierra Leone, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official in Freetown told IRIN on Thursday. They had gone to Segebwema, located in Kailahun district, to implement a five-day polio vaccination campaign launched on Saturday by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, and aimed at vaccinating 800,000 children under five years throughout the country. “They took their security for granted as Foday Sankoh and Johnny Paul Koroma were at the launch in Freetown,” the WHO official said. “We hope that they will be released soon now that Johnny Paul Koroma and Foday Sankoh are starting to sensitise their men in the bush.” An interagency humanitarian assessment mission visited Kailahun district from 29 September to 1 October. The team, which went to Segebwema, said in its report that it “has been able to reconfirm that relief agencies can now move into these areas (towns assessed by the team in the district) provided that prior information on their itineraries is made available to the Organisation for the Survival of Mankind (OSM) leadership”. The leadership of the OSM, the humanitarian wing of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), is based in Buedu, eastern Kailahun. Buedu, which is close to the Liberian border, has been an RUF stronghold since the start of the Sierra Leone war.