More UN troops to Mile 91

The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) will shortly strengthen its presence near the town of Mile 91 to allow for increased aid deliveries to some 35,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), the UN reported on Friday in New York. Humanitarian agencies and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are concerned by the situation in the town, some 115 km east of Freetown, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, the deputy spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, said. In a 13 June situation report, OCHA described the security conditions in the town of Mile 91 and the surrounding area as “less than ideal”. Overall UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations registered some 92,000 newly displaced civilians since fighting resumed early May between the government forces and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. The largest concentrations of IDPs are in the western area of Freetown, northern Port Loko and central Tonkolili districts, Silva reported.