UN calls for emergency aid to Darfur refugees in Chad

YAOUNDE, Dec 7, 2004 (Xinhua) — The United Nations on Tuesday called on the international community to provide emergency humanitarian aid to Darfur refugees in the neighboring Chad.

Refugee children fetch water in the new Red Cross camp for Darfur refugees at Tréguine in eastern Chad in this file photo taken in October 2004.(Reuters).

In Chadian capital N’djamena, Cyrille Niameogo, coordinator of the UN system in Chad, told a press conference that Chad now hosts up to 200,000 refugees from Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

He said that the United Nations in 2005 needs at least 182 million US dollars earmarked for Chadian refugee camps to carry out a total of 64 aid projects.

The aid projects will be related to drinking water, farming, hygiene and education.

He added the environment in Chad’s eastern border areas is deteriorating as a result of the refugee influx.

The Darfur conflict began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Army and allied Justice and Equality Movement took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against the Sudanese of African origin.

The conflict has killed thousands of people and forced more than one million others to either flee to neighboring Chad or be internally displaced.