SIERRA LEONE-POPULATION: Displaced Camp No Longer A Safe Haven

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

MATOTOKA, Jan 2 1997 (IPS) - An uneasy calm in the North of the country where villagers fear rebel attacks has sent more and more people fleeing to an overcrowded camp for displaced persons.

According to the paramount chief in Matotoka, some 250 kilometres north of the capital Freetown, the camp is urgently in need of food and toilet facilities.

“The lack of medical supplies and the deteriorating sanitary facilities at the camp have resulted in the deaths of an average of seven camp dwellers a week,” says chief Misim Gbla.

Cease-fire violations by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh, and government forces in Tonkolili district, chief Gbla says, are sending people into the camp and he is no longer able to cope.

“I cannot stand up to all the problems. Already, thousands of villagers from the affected areas have been trooping into Matotoka in fear of imminent rebel attacks,” says the chief.

People within the camp are having to resort to various activities to try and sustain their families. Hassan Sesay says the shortage of continuous relief supplies has forced him to cut trees in the area outside of the camp for firewood, which he sells in the local market.

“I have a family of eleven. The relief agencies stopped supplying our regular (food) rations over a month ago and so I’m forced to fell firewood in the bush and sell it in the markets,” says Sesay.

But he says that the firewood market is risky and his family could still fall on hard times. “Sometimes after hard work in the bush, I find it difficult to sell my wood in the market. And, whenever that happens, it means my family starves.”

The Matotoka camp is populated by displaced persons from the mining districts of Kono and Kenema. Sixty percent of the inhabitants are children and youth.

There are no schools or informal structures for the children to learn, so most spend their day playing in an open field. “Child labour is also rampant in the camp,” says analyst Abu Bakar Turay, who is based in Makem, the northern regional capital.

“Children are used to sell small items like cigarettes, cold water and locally made soap. Some of the children are as young as eight,” Turay adds.

Although the civilian government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and the RUF signed a peace treaty on Nov. 30 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, the cease-fire has not been holding in the Tonkolili district.

Just days after the peace accord was signed, the villages of Kubehuna and Magbenka in Tonkolili district, were attacked by armed men. The villagers, forced to flee their villages because of the conflict, had started to return to their homes.

John Myers, a school teacher in the camp, said he has had to return to the camp to feel safe. “I regret coming back to the camp. My feeling was that the cease-fire signed between the government and the rebels would guarantee our safety and the war would come to an end.”

Some of the camp residents however feel that it is no longer a safe haven, and given its deteriorating conditions, some are moving closer to the town.

“I am not waiting for the rebels to invade our camp. I’ve endured many sufferings and do not need more torments,” says Musa Conteh, who is currently at Matotoka camp.

“I am moving with my family of six as soon as possible and to wherever I consider safe,” Conteh adds.