Eastern Chad — The Sudanese refugees of camp Treguine in eastern Chad have complained of the high rates of malaria, diarrhoea, deterioration of the environmental health, lack of medicine and plastic sheets, echoing the displaced of Darfur.

Sheikh Ali Yaqoub, of Treguine told Radio Dabanga that they suffer from the spread of disease, especially among children, women and the elderly in the holy month of Ramadan.

Like his counterparts within Darfur, Sheikh Yaqoub attributes this to the lack of clean drinking water and the spread of mosquitoes and flies.

"Refugees have been drawing drinking water from the wadis for about a year because the well that used to provide them with water collapsed. The wadi water has become filthy and is unsafe for drinking during the rainy season."

He appealed to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to expedite provision of drinking water and medical supplies for the camp.

According to UN estimates, there are now 350,000 Darfuri refugees in Chad. In what the UNHCR termed "the largest exodus of people from Darfur since 2005", around 50,000 people fled Sudan for eastern Chad when inter-tribal hostilities broke out in Central Darfur in April this year.