3,000 IDPs return home

Over the past three days, the International Office for Migration (IOM) helped transport some 3,000 IDPs and returning refugees to Songo and Mile 38, respectively 50km and 60km east of the capital, Freetown, the IOM reported on Friday. Resettlement kits containing food and non-food items such as blankets, tarpaulin, buckets, cooling utensils and soap were distributed by the government and other agencies to heads of families. The first phase of the operation is expected to last up to three weeks. IOM initially expects to transport some 12,000 IDPs to drop-off points. In the Southern Province these include Moyamba, Moyamba Junction, Taiama, Gbangbatoke, Rotifunk, Mattru Jong, Bo, Pujehun and Potoro-Iryehua. Those in Northern Province are Songo, Mile 38, Masiaka, Port Loko and Petifu, while in the east of the country, Kenema is the only drop-off point. Most of the people assisted by IOM have spent more than three years in camps in and around Freetown. Some 48,000 IDPs are currently registered in Greater Freetown. Much of the north and the east of Sierra Leone is still under the control of the rebel Revolutionary United Front. Recently, however, UN troops have deployed to areas of the north and the east as part of an ongoing effort to maintain peace and re-establish their presence throughout the country.