Heavy rains hamper aid for displaced Sudanese in Chad
ABECHE, Chad, July 26 (AFP) — Seasonal heavy rains are further hampering efforts to bring aid to some 180,000 refugees in remote areas of eastern Chad who fled fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region, aid agencies warned Monday.
“The rainy season is a big worry. The worst month in the region is August,” said Helen Coe, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
She was speaking in Abeche, a Chadian town some 700 kilometres (440 miles) from the capital Ndjamena from where most of the humanitarian operations for the Sudanese refugees in Chad are being coordinated.
The conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region began in February 2003 with a rebel uprising against Khartoum, protesting that the largely black African region had been ignored by the Arab government.
In response, the pro-government Janjaweed and other militias went on the rampage, carrying out what aid and rights agencies have called a brutal and systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Up to 50,000 people have died and about 1.2 million have been displaced as a result of the conflict, with up to 200,000 people taking refuge across the border Chad, according to UN officials.
But the rains, which are set to continue until October, are making a large part of the zone where the refugees have taken shelter in Chad inaccessible.
The rains fill usually dry river beds with water and thus make the region’s already poor road network even more risky.
Only limited amounts of aid can be brought in by air because Abeche’s airport can only handle light cargo aircraft, said Philippe Guyon Le Bouffy, the World Food Programme’s representative in Chad.
He said the southern part of the area where the refugees are was now completely cut off because of the rains. The WFP had however prepositioned 3,000 tonnes of food in the area, which should be enough to feed the refugees there for six months, according to Guyon Le Bouffy.
The northern area was likely to be less affected by the rains and should remain accessible by road. But trucks carrying aid there will have to make a lengthy detour through the desert because the main Ndjamena-Abeche road is cut off because of the rains.
The recent opening of a route from Libya, which lies to the north of the region, should also boost aid.
But the UNHCR and the WFP both fear that an escalation in violence in Darfur could lead to a fresh influx of refugees to Chad.
“In January and February there was a massive influx of refugees,” said Guyon Le Bouffy. “Their numbers have continued to increase ever since.”
He added that the aid now in place in the region had been calculated for the current number of refugees and would not be enough for large numbers of new arrivals.
“The ultimate solution would be air-dropping,” he said, adding however that because of the hig cost this would be used only as a last resort.