AID AGENCIES issued fresh warnings about the situation in Chad this week, after fierce fighting in the capital N’Djamena earlier this month (News, 8 February).
The UN said there was concern about the thousands trapped in the Darfur region in Sudan, who are unable to cross into Chad because of a military offensive. Aid agencies want the estimated 8000 refugees to move into camps in Chad, but the government does not want them.
The civilians took refuge in the Jebel Moun mountains after government bombing of three rebel-held towns in Darfur earlier this month. During the unrest in Chad, aid-agency staff working with refugees were caught in crossfire, and on one occasion threatened at gunpoint.
An estimated 240,000 Darfur refugees are already living in camps in eastern Chad, and 180,000 Chadians have been internally displaced in the current conflicts.
The charity Christian Outreach Relief and Development (CORD), based in Leamington Spa, has been working on its current Chad project for two-and-a-half years. Its two British members of staff are currently in the UK: one was unable to return after her Christmas break, and the education manager Anne Goddard was evacuated after the fighting last week in N’Djamena.
A CORD spokesman said local staff were still working in camps in the east. Two had been held up at gunpoint and ordered to get out of a vehicle; in the same incident a government security officer was killed.
Oxfam confirmed it had also evacuated its international staff from the capital, but was keeping personnel in camps in the eastern region, which has been cut off for almost a week because of the fighting. The charity said that it would face shortages of cash, fuel, and food if the situation did not improve.
World Vision has also evacuated some of its staff, saying it had serious concern for the thousands of people now displaced and in need of water, clothing, shelter, and food.
MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship), which evacuated all its international staff after the fighting, said this week that senior staff were planning to return to Chad to assess the situation.
A report from Africa Inland Mission said that efforts were being made in the capital to return to normal, and burnt-out cars and looted material were being removed.
www.maf.org
www.cord.org.uk
www.worldvision.org.uk
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