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Chad: UNHCR Withdraws Some Staff in East After Attacks
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United Nations High Commission for Refugees (Geneva)
PRESS RELEASE
31 January 2008
Posted to the web 31 January 2008
Abeche
A series of armed attacks on the UN refugee agency and other aid organisations has forced UNHCR to evacuate most of its staff from its office in Guereda in eastern Chad.
In the last 72 hours, five vehicles belonging to UNHCR, its non-governmental organisation partners and MSF Suisse were stolen at gun-point. The UNHCR compound in Guereda was entered by armed men two nights in a row – on Wednesday and Thursday.
“We are left only with one choice, much to our regret, which is to relocate most staff out of Guereda area, as we cannot continue to perform our activities in favor of refugees,” said Serge Mal*, UNHCR Representative in N’djamena.
“Minimum essential staff will remain in place, so as to ensure basic support in refugee camps. We hope to be able to resume our full activities very soon,” he said. UNHCR operates two refugee camps in Guereda, Mile and Kounoungou, hosting nearly 30,000 refugees from Darfur.
Tensions between opposition forces and the Chadian National Army have been mounting since Monday, leading to increased security incidents, especially in Guereda, about 165 km north-east of Abeche.
Because of the tension, four UNHCR staff and 28 local and international staff of UNHCR’s implementing partners were being temporarily relocated to Abeche by air on Thursday. In addition, a convoy of eight vehicles was traveling from Guereda to Abeche to protect the few remaining vehicles in the town, where ethnic clashes between Zaghawas and Tamas have also been increasing.
“The local authorities don’t have the necessary means to protect us anymore. In this area we have a state of complete impunity, Guereda is getting very vulnerable,” said Jorge Holly, head of the UNHCR field office in Guereda.
“If humanitarian workers are not around, it is impossible to provide adequate protection to the refugees,” said Holly. “But the situation here is getting out of control and we also have to protect our staff and partners.”
The most serious incident occurred early Wednesday when two armed men in military uniforms jumped the wall of the UNHCR compound and threatened the guards with guns to steal two vehicles.
The attack on Thursday came when an unknown individual with a Kalashnikov automatic rifle entered the UNHCR guesthouse in Guereda. The intruder was chased off by members of UNHCR’s local partner. Shooting between police and the assailant was heard.
“It was a terrible experience,” said a staff member who was among the first evacuees to reach Abeche. ”This guy broke into the guesthouse. He had this Kalashnikov and it was just by pure chance that nobody was injured.”
Remaining colleagues in Guereda went to the two refugee camps on Thursday to distribute food and water and provide health care. “The refugees are very concerned and worried, but we are lucky to have their full support and understanding,” Holly said.
As usual in cases of temporary relocation, the camps have been officially handed over to refugee leaders to manage during the reduced presence of humanitarian workers.
Meanwhile the security situation in Chad’s capital, N’djamena, is also very tense today, with international staff of UN agencies and NGOs advised to stay at home.
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UNHCR staff in eastern field offices, like Goz Beida and Koukou-Angarana, are monitoring the situation. Even though some roads are impassable due to military movements, such as the road between Abeche and Farchana, 120 km to the east, UNHCR is trying to ensure assistance continues to 240,000 Sudanese refugees in 12 refugee camps and 180,000 internally displaced Chadians in the east.
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| Copyright © 2008 United Nations High Commission for Refugees. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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