U.N. sending aid to Sudan refugees in Chad

ROME, Feb 13, 2004 (AP) — A U.N. food agency said Friday it was flying tons of emergency supplies to Sudanese refugees who fled to neighboring Chad to escape fighting between the government and rebels.

A yearlong conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan has forced more than 600,000 people from their homes. About 100,000 people have fled into Chad, aid agencies say.

The World Food Program was sending a 40-ton airlift of high-energy biscuits and logistics equipment from a depot in Brindisi, southern Italy, to Chad’s capital N’Djamena on Friday night, the Rome-based agency said in a statement.

Part of the problem is that eastern Chad was already a poor area before the influx of Sudanese refugees, the agency noted.

“Initially, the local population made great efforts to help the refugees but they themselves are finding it more and more difficult to cope,” said Philippe Guyon Le Bouffy, WFP’s representative in Chad.

The U.N. agency complained that it has pledges for only one-quarter of the US$18.5 million in aid it requested for Sudanese refugees and Chadians. Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the United States have offered US$4.4 million.

The insurgents in Darfur say they are fighting for an equal share of the wealth of Africa’s largest nation as well as greater political representation. Hundreds have been killed in the fighting.

On Thursday, the Sudanese government reopened corridors for trucks and aircraft to deliver aid to Darfur. The government closed large sections of Darfur to aid and humanitarian organizations in December, saying the rebellion had made it too dangerous.