More than 10,000 Sudanese flee fighting in Sudan, refugees in need of food and water
BIRAK, Chad, Dec 15, 2003 (AP) — More than 10,000 Sudanese have fled their villages to eastern Chad in the past week and many will need food and water soon, an aid agency official said Monday.
Sonja Peyrassol, a senior aid worker for Medecins sans Frontieres, said the refugees have crossed the border near the town of Birak in relatively good health, but that food and water supplies were rapidly running out.
“More than half of them came without any belongings, while the other ones came with some cattle,” Peyrassol told The Associated Press by telephone from Chad. “Those are the ones who left before something happened to their villages … they are quite healthy, because when we met them they had just arrived, but they don’t have much to eat with them. We expect the situation to deteriorate in the coming weeks.”
The refugees have fled growing violence in the Sudanese province of Darfur, 900 kilometers (560 miles) west of Khartoum.
Rebels, calling themselves the Sudan Liberation Army, have demanded self-determination for Darfur and have been fighting government troops and government-backed militias since February. The militiamen are drawn from Sudan’s Muslim, Arab population. The rebels in Darfur, although Muslim, are black Africans, often of mixed Arabic ancestry.
When activated by the government, the militias are usually allowed to loot villages as compensation for their services. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and international human rights groups have expressed concern over reports that the militiamen have been committing atrocities against civilians in Darfur.
Witnesses report that Sudanese planes have also been bombing villages in Darfur.
Because humanitarian agencies aren’t yet able to work in the Darfur region, the number of victims and people displaced by fighting is unknown. Figures run from 500,000 to 1 million.
Peyrassol said about 20,000 refugees have arrived in the Birak area, but other agencies report that more than 60,000 have sought refuge elsewhere in eastern Chad.
There are few roads in eastern Chad and accessing the refugees has proven extremely difficult. The U.N. refugee agency has recommended setting up two camps near Birak for the refugees, but Peyrassol said that after the latest influx, three may now be needed.
“The people are very scattered, especially now since there is no food assistance, so they are searching for food,” he said. “The problem of water will become more and more important in the coming of weeks.”
The flair up in fighting coincides with peace talks in neighboring Kenya, where the main southern Sudanese rebel group, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, is in talks to end a 20-year civil war with the government.