US official says aid organizations pulling back in Chad

March 20, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — A U.S. State Department official said Tuesday that recent ethnic violence in Chad has forced relief organizations to cut staffing by half and limited their ability to care for refugees from the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State James Swan said the U.S. and allies are pushing the Chadian government to accept an international military force to keep peace between rival political and ethnic groups, but that so far the country’s government has resisted the suggestion.

Swan was speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing focusing on violence in Chad and the Central African Republic, which has received less attention than the conflict in Darfur.

He said violence in Darfur, which has lead to more than 200,000 deaths and the displacement of 2.5 million people in recent years, has spilled over and cannot be treated separately from conflict in the two other countries.

The president of the Central African Republic has already announced he is willing to accept U.N. peacekeepers as part of a proposed force that would also operate in Chad.

Swan said that given the difficulty of getting countries to contribute large numbers of troops, the U.S. is urging the U.N. Security Council to approve a smaller force backed by heavy equipment including helicopters that would allow troops to respond quickly to outbreaks of violence over a large area.

Violence in Chad has been fueled by economic disparity as a result of oil revenues controlled by the government that aren’t being distributed. The U.S. is pushing for government reform.

“Because we recognize that poor governance is a major cause of Chadian instability, we have emphasized the importance of democratic reform, respect for human rights, dialogue, and transparent governance,” he said.

(AP)