Fighting along Chad-Sudan border threatens Darfur aid – UN
Mar 24, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Fighting on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border has sparked a new influx of refugees and threatens aid to thousands who had fled violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region, the U.N. food aid agency warned on Friday.
Most of the people affected by recent clashes between government troops and rebels only have enough food to last them a month or two, the World Food Program said, appealing for urgent financial support to stem an even bigger humanitarian crisis.
The warning came days after Chadian troops launched a major offensive against rebels who had set up bases along the unstable frontier. The operation came on top of raids into eastern Chad by armed groups involved in a civil war that has devastated Darfur.
“We are at an extremely delicate stage in Chad — right on the edge,” Stefano Porretti, WFP’s Country Director, said in a statement released in the capital, N’djamena.
“The longer the insecurity in the area persists, the more serious the situation will become” for the 207,400 Darfur refugees sheltering in 12 camps in eastern Chad.
“Guarantees of both financial commitment to our operations and security in the region are essential to help stave off an even more serious humanitarian crisis, which we could have on our hands within weeks,” he said.
Some 46,000 refugees fleeing violence in the Central African Republic have also crossed into Chad, with the numbers growing, WFP said. Food supplies for those refugees are expected to run out by June without more help.
Since October, scores of defectors from the Chadian army have joined Chadian rebel groups on the border with Darfur. Hundreds have been killed in regular clashes between government troops and rebels.
In Darfur, more than 180,000 have been killed in a three-year rebellion. Another two million people have fled their homes to escape the violence, according to U.N. estimates.
Sudan’s government unleashed a counter insurgency operation in which pro-government Arab militia attacked Darfur’s African tribesmen, killing people and destroying villages.
Sudan has accused Chad — Africa’s newest oil producer — of harboring Darfur rebels, while Chad has said Sudan backs Chadian insurgents.
On Feb. 9, the leaders of Sudan and Chad signed a peace agreement to end increasing tension over Sudan’s Darfur region, pledging to normalize diplomatic relations and deny refuge to each other’s rebel groups. The deal, however, has yet to resolve the chaos on the ground.
The African Union Peace and Security Council agreed Tuesday to study plans to deploy military observers on the Chad-Sudan border as provided under the Libya-brokered agreement.
(ST/AP)