UNHCR cuts staff levels in Chad after attack

Jan 22, 2006 (GENEVA) — The U.N. refugee agency said Sunday it was temporarily reducing the size of its staff in eastern Chad after an unknown group of armed men attacked the town of Guereda and abducted five government officials.

“This measure is temporary,” said Claire Bourgeois, an official for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Chad. “We have kept enough staff in field offices to continue delivering services to the refugees.”

The situation in Chad’s refugee camps, which host people who have fled the conflict in Sudan’s neighboring Darfur region, is quiet and no incidents have been reported there, UNHCR said.

Nevertheless, “the situation is serious enough at this stage, especially when taking into account the number of security incidents in the past days,” Bourgeois said, noting that two vehicles belonging to non-governmental aid groups were stolen in the last four days.

The United Nations and other aid groups will re-evaluate the situation “on a daily basis,” UNHCR said.

The Darfur crisis began when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. Sudan’s government is accused of using Janjaweed militia to unleash a campaign of murder, rape, arson and looting to stamp out the rebellion.

Chad has taken in some 200,000 refugees from the two-year conflict, and another 1.8 million are estimated to be sheltering in camps within Sudan. About 180,000 people have been killed — many from hunger and disease.

Other aid groups working in eastern Chad have also temporarily reduced their staff levels and the total number of humanitarian staff in the region has been reduced by 20 percent, UNHCR said.

(AP/ST)