IDPs start returning home to Kono and Tonkolili

The resettlement of internally displaced Sierra Leoneans in the formerly inaccessible districts of Kono and Tonkolili started on Tuesday and will continue to the end of June, an official in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Activities (OCHA) told IRIN.

The resettlement of at least 12,000 IDPs from camps in the capital, Freetown's Western Area is being supported by sensitisation programmes on Radio UNAMSIL, a station operated by the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. The radio programmes include news from people already resettled. Other programmes are being run through local radio stations in Freetown as well as the towns of Bo, Kenema, Makeni, Mile 91 and Kono, OCHA reported in its May 2002 humanitarian situation report.

"Following this, 3,640 IDPs will need to be resettled in Mile 91 (east of Freetown), and an additional 20,000 currently residing in host community areas are waiting to be resettled in Kono, Tonkolili and Bombali Districts (in the east, centre and north). A tentative schedule is being put in place for this final phase of resettlement which will virtually complete the formal facilitated resettlement of IDPs within the country," OCHA said.

The principle concern now, OCHA added, was support for a recovery programme in resettled communities. Several agencies and NGOs, including UNAMSIL, WFP, CARE, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Catholic Relief Services, Caritas, International Rescue Committee and Cause Canada, are supporting the resettlement process.

OCHA also quoted WFP as saying that food security had improved and agricultural recovery had been enhanced throughout most of the country.

There was however concern over security in areas along the border with Liberia. "There have been increased incidents of unwarranted border crossings by various Liberian factions and a reported build up of refugees/IDPs on the Liberian side of the Mano River," OCHA reported. "This has caused Sierra Leone to increase their force levels on the border. UNAMSIL has also increased patrols along the border. "