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ICRC reaching out to the displaced

    ABIDJAN

    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been caring for thousands of Sierra Leoneans displaced by the fighting that has followed the detention of some 500 UN troops in May by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

    The first major movements of IDPs were in the Lungi peninsula, just north of Freetown, where the ICRC said it and the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society carried out two needs assessment surveys. As a result tarpaulins, sleeping mats, blankets, buckets and soap are now being distributed to some 42,000 people “according to need”, it said on Thursday in a bulletin.

    In addition, the ICRC says it has registered 1,376 families fleeing the northern towns of Masiaka and Magburaka, along the road between Masiaka and the town of Mile 91.

    Added to the families it registered in Mile 91, the ICRC said there were now 3,309 families (or some 21,000 people) receiving urgently needed shelter and non-food help in the sector. Other aid agencies have also been distributing food in the Lungi and Mile 91 areas, it added.

    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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