Humanitarian convoy arrives in Bo

A humanitarian relief convoy escorted by UNAMSIL peacekeepers arrived safely in the southern Sierra Leonean town of Bo on Thursday, sources in Freetown told IRIN. It was the first time in about two weeks that such a convoy had travelled to the area. Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a situation report for 26 June to 9 July that plans to assist up to 150,000 new internally displaced people (IDPs) had been curtailed or suspended because security had deteriorated in the main areas of IDP concentration. The most affected area, it said, was around the town of Mile 91, east of Freetown, where insecurity has halted a plan of action to help more than 40,000 IDPs who fled the north after fighting between pro-government forces and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. Closer to Freetown, the Lungi peninsula has remained calm, allowing agencies to continue relief programmes for over 30,000 new IDPs in the area, OCHA reported. However, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has arrested a number of suspected RUF members in the area, a UN spokesperson reported in New York on Wednesday. In the Freetown area, UNAMSIL troops arrested 16 curfew breakers during regular patrols on Tuesday night and handed them over to the Sierra Leone police, UNAMSIL reported in Freetown on Wednesday.