UN relocating Sudanese refugees from border to inside Chad

N’DJAMENA/NAIROBI, Dec 23, 2003 (dpa) — The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) is beginning to relocate tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees from eastern Chads border to locations further inside the country, the BBC reported Tuesday.

The refugees are fleeing the northwestern Sudanese region of Darfur, where Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebels, government troops, and Arab militias – which some analysts say are aligned to the government – have been clashing in on-going battles.

Ten thousand refugees are now being moved from the border area to a camp further inside the country, a UNHCR spokesman told BBC. The interior of Chad is “substantially safer,” said the spokesman.

He said refugees have been the victims of bandits, who have been stealing the refugees’ possessions and conducting cross-border cattle raids.

“We are treating this as an emergency,” he said, adding that many refugees are short of food and are suffering from respiratory ailments.

Up to 91,000 Sudanese refugees have poured into Chad since April, according to the UNHCR.

Last week, the medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called for food, water, clothing, shelter, and other basic supplies to be supplied to 26,000 refugees who have fled Darfur since the beginning of December.

“Conditions they face on arrival are harsh,” said Sonia Peyrassol, MSF Emergency Coordinator at the Chad/Sudan border. “Having walked for up to three days to escape the violence around their homes, they are greeted by totally inadequate shelter, a dire lack of protection and insufficient food.

“This is exacerbated by extreme weather conditions, with the temperature fluctuating between zero at night and 30 degrees during the day,” she said.

More than 750,000 people have been displaced by the Darfur conflict, according to the U.N.s children agency (UNICEF).

The Darfur conflict has not been discussed in the on-going peace talks between the Sudanese government and the country’s main rebel group, the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army.

Opposition leaders warned that, unless the situation in Darfur is addressed, any peace deal signed between the two will be ineffective.