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Returnees shun resettlement

    ABIDJAN

    Former refugees reluctant to return to their homes in Kono District, eastern Sierra Leone, have agreed to temporary relocation to the southern area of Taiama, UNHCR Information Officer Isa Blyden told IRIN on Friday.

    She said the returnees, who had been in other temporary settlements and host communities in Sierra Leone’s Western Area, had been reluctant to go to their homes in Kono because of insecurity and uncertainty about regaining access to their farms.

    The district is a stronghold of the anti-government Revolutionary United Front (RUF) force. The disarmament of thousands of combatants from the RUF and the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), a pro-government militia, began in Kono on 2 July, but has been slow. UNAMSIL, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, has disarmed 726 fighters. The operation in Kono is due to end on Tuesday.

    The new agreement to move to Taiama will free vitally needed space at the Jui, Lumpa and Waterloo transit centres in the Western Area for the thousands of new arrivals expected from Guinea and Liberia, UNHCR said.

    The UN agency said in a 23-29 July report on the situation in Sierra Leone that it was helping 55,760 returnees in the country.

    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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