Relief items distributed to farmers

Tens of thousands of farming families in eastern Sierra Leone have started to receive seeds, farm tools and other relief items as part of efforts to help internally displaced persons and refugees resettle in their home villages, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported on Thursday. About 20,000 families in seven chiefdoms in Kono District and another 20,000 families - about 240,000 people - in six chiefdoms in Kailahun District would receive rice seed, groundnut seed and hoes, the ICRC said. The most vulnerable members, some 12,000 people in Kono and 14,000 people in Kailahun, would also receive non-food items including shelter materials, blankets, buckets, kitchen sets, mats and mosquito nets, distributed by ICRC and the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS). To help meet the demands for safe water and sanitation, nearly 800 pit latrines had been dug in recent weeks in 53 villages in Kono and new wells were being constructed. The ICRC provided materials, expertise and training and the building work was carried out by members of the local community, the ICRC reported. A similar programme was underway in three chiefdoms in Kailahun, it added. Hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans were displaced or became refugees during the decade-long civil war between rebels of the Revolutionary United Front and the government. The conflict ended officially in January and general elections are scheduled to take place on 14 May.