18 March 2008
The United Nations refugee agency has begun moving some of the estimated 14,000 refugees who recently fled violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) away from the border in southern Chad to more accessible areas.
Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a first group of nearly 700 people was transferred on Saturday from the border town of Maya to a temporary transit site 25 kilometres further inland, near the village of Dembo.
"By the end of the week, we expect to have moved around 4,250 refugees to the Dembo site opened by UNHCR, its partner African Concern and local authorities," he said at a press briefing in Geneva today.
Once they arrive at the site, the refugees will receive tents, blankets, mats, jerry cans and plastic sheeting from UNHCR, and food aid from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
Mr. Redmond added that UNHCR plans to further relocate the refugees from Dembo to established refugee camps near Goré, the main town in southern Chad, given that Dembo could become flooded during the upcoming rainy season.
The refugees began arriving in Chad earlier this year, having fled rebel and bandit attacks in their homeland.
Before the latest influx, Chad was hosting some 45,000 Central African refugees at four sites in the south. There are a further 240,000 refugees at 12 UNHCR-run camps in eastern Chad, while a further 180,000 Chadians have been displaced in the south-east.
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