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WFP provides food for thousands of IDPs

    ABIDJAN

    The World Food Programme (WFP) delivered 126 mt of food to 5,688 persons in Freetown on 10-13 May, and another 50,704 people began receiving supplies on 15 May, a WFP source told IRIN on Tuesday.

    The second batch of beneficiaries will receive 725 mt of food by Wednesday, the source said.

    The target group comprises mainly internally displaced persons (IDPs), people living in institutions such as orphanages and centres for child soldiers, hospital inmates and people in feeding centres, the source added.

    Since the start of May, a climate of insecurity sparked by attacks on and the detention of, UN peacekeepers has caused thousands of people to seek refuge in Freetown, joining other IDPs who had been there before. WFP has been registering the newly arrived IDPs, who number about 35,000.

    The number of IDPs in Freetown has been estimated at about 80,000.

    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

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