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Over 2,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing insecurity have arrived in the northern town of Kabala in the last week, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its 22-23 May update.
Most of the IDPs are said to come from the northern areas of Makeni and Magburaka where tension is reported to be high. Insecurity in the area around Kabala has forced relief groups, Medecins Sans Frontieres - Belgium (MSF-B) Catholic Relief Services and Christian Extension Services, to scale down their activities, OCHA reported. They are now only operating in the town, providing health, nutrition, food aid and agriculture support.
Some 25 severely malnourished children and 60 moderate cases have been registered by MSF in the last few days and more are expected, the report said. The situation in surrounding villages is believed to be worse.
“We are very worried because the poor nutrition situation comes more than three months in advance of the ‘hungry season’”, OCHA reported the MSF head of mission as saying on Tuesday.
The IDP camp in the town was closed after it was looted by armed groups and some 6,000 old and new IDPs are now living within the host community. Food deliveries cannot be made by road as it has been closed and the population needs urgent relief in all sectors. MSF, which has maintained a medical team in Kabala, told OCHA that something has to be done “very urgently”.
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