UNAMSIL begins deployment in north

UNAMSIL began deploying peacekeeping troops to the northern district of Koinadougu District on Wednesday to secure disarmament and demobilisation centres for Revolutionary United Front fighters (RUF) who have occupied the area since 1996. “A Bangladeshi company was sent to Kabala, the district’s main town, a UNAMSIL official told IRIN, “and another company is due there today”. Deployment of UNAMSIL units in Koinadugu follows a similar move on 2 July into Kono District, the diamond-rich eastern part of Sierra Leone, which has produced a growing sense of public security to that area. The Bangladeshis oversaw most of the disarmament in Kono. Despite their overwhelming presence in Koinadugu, the RUF fighters have never taken Kabala which remains in government hands. The opening of the district will eventually enable aid agencies to serve all its communities for the first time since 1996. Even if the security is very good, OCHA’s Denis Johnson told IRIN, the agencies were likely to find access to areas off the main roads “very difficult because of the rains”. Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium, one of the few aid agencies working in Kabala, has been serving the town and immediate area for the past two-and-a-half years. MSF-Belgium Technical Coordinator Frederic Capelle told IRIN they had been offering nutritional services and treatment for a range of ailments such as malaria and diarrhoea; and conducting a vaccination campaign, using mobile clinics to expands its outreach. “The area (district) hasn’t had health care for the past four years,” he said. Koinadugu’s population fled south when the RUF invaded. As in Kono, the population is expected to begin returning as UNASMSIL fans out throughout the district, he said. When that happens farming activities can resume on a large scale. The district borders Guinea and lies within the Wara Wara and Loma mountain ranges. It is a temperate area that produces much of the nation’s vegetables and fruit.