French FM calls for more humanitarian aid to Sudanese refugees in Chad
By Patrick Rahir
“Time is running out,” de Villepin told a crowd of 1,800 people at Forchana refugee camp in the east of Chad, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Sudanese border, shortly after arriving in Ndjamena for a one-day visit.
The camp is looked after by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“Like all other providers of aid, we want to get moving to satisfy these needs” before the start of the rainy season in June, he said.
The steady stream of refugees from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region is causing major concern in Chad and was to be a key topic in de Villepin’s talks in the evening with Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Chad, a former French colony, is now home to thousands of refugees who have fled fighting between Sudanese government forces and rebels in Darfur.
The country aims to accommodate about 3,000 people at Forchana and to provide shelter to 100,000 other refugees living along the border before the start of the rainy season, said the UNHCR’s mission chief in Chad, Alphonse Malanda.
About 3,000 people have been killed and another 670,000 displaced within Sudan itself by the war between rebels drawn mainly from the region’s non-Arab minorities and government troops and their Arab militia allies.
Diplomats have said that the Arab militias have also carried out raids into Chad.
Some Darfur rebels are members of the Zaghawa ethnic group — like President Deby and part of the Chadian armed forces.
Chad which has denied any involvement in the Darfur crisis has been pressing for mediation since late last month. Two ceasefires mediated by Ndjamena have broken down.
Fighting has intensified since a third round of negotiations failed in the Chadian capital in mid-December.
The rebellion erupted a year ago over the western Darfur region’s alleged economic neglect by the government.
De Villepin is scheduled to visit the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Friday, the first visit of a French foreign minister to the country.
As well as the situation in Darfur, he is expected to discuss with President Omar al-Beshir the peace process aimed at ending 21 years of conflict that pitted the south, where most observe traditional African religions and Christianity, against the Muslim, Arabised north.