2 October 2007
The Foreign Minister of Chad today welcomed the recent creation of a United Nations-mandated, multidimensional presence in the country, pledging full support for its work on behalf of the thousands of people who have been uprooted by insecurity in the region, including the conflict-torn Darfur region of Sudan.
Ahmad Allam-Mi told the General Assembly's annual high-level debate that the mission, to be known as MINURCAT, will help lighten the heavy burden that until now has been borne by Chadian gendarmes working to help alleviate the plight of refugees, displaced persons and others victimized by the conflict.
He paid tribute to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and friendly countries which have been supporting Chadian forces who have been acting with courage in the face of a "sensitive and dangerous" mission.
"The new operation can count on the support and cooperation of the Chadian authorities," he pledged. "We dare to hope that it will create conditions that will foster stability and reconstruction in the eastern region of our country that have been devastated by incursions of the Sudanese Janjaweed and other armed men coming from Darfur."
According to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's latest report on the situation in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), where MINURCAT will also be deployed, the humanitarian situation "has shown no signs of improving" since February, with more than 400,000 refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of the fighting and an estimated 700,000 others in host communities also affected.
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