Gov’t, UNICEF deliver school supplies to the north

School supplies have been delivered to over 15,000 children in two northern Sierra Leonean towns for the first time since a peace accord in July 1999 between Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and the government, UNICEF said. UNICEF provided logistics to the Ministry of Education for the delivery, completed on 1 March. The supplies - textbooks, blackboards, chalk, pencils, erasers and sharpeners - were sent to 50 schools in Makeni and Lunsar, in one of the first such actions taken by the government of national unity. Both towns had been in rebel hands since December 1998. “The successful distribution to Makeni is an important first step to re-establishing government support in areas previously cut off due to insecurity,” Education Minister Alpha Wurie said.