U.N. refugee agency opens camp in S. Chad

GENEVA, Switzerland, Mar 25, 2004 (UPI) — The U.N refugee agency said Thursday it has opened its first camp for refugees in the southern section of Chad’s eastern border zone with Sudan.

The camp, known as Goz Amer 1, accepted its first convoy of 78 refugees Tuesday and another convoy of 130 people Thursday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported. A second camp in the same area is being planned.

The U.N. refugee agency, Chad’s national refugee agency and several non-governmental organizations have set up five camps this year well inside Chad so residents will be safe from cross-border raids by militia groups.

Nearly 15,000 refugees live in four camps in the northern section of the border zone, with fresh convoys arriving daily.

UNHCR estimates more than 110,000 Sudanese have fled across the border to Chad in the past year to escape fighting in the Darfur region in their country’s west.