• Text size Normal size text | Increase text size by 10% | Increase text size by 20% | Increase text size by 30%
  • Also available in French

Up to 20,000 Chadians flee to Cameroon border town

News Stories, 5 February 2008

© UNHCR/D.Mbaiorem
Chadian refugees from N'Djamena look back across the Chari River from Kousséri in Cameroon.

KOUSSERI, Cameroon, February 5 (UNHCR) – A five-member UNHCR team has arrived in the Cameroon border town of Kousséri and estimates that up to 20,000 people have crossed the river border with Chad to escape fighting in the Chadian capital of N'Djamena.

As of Tuesday morning, frightened people were still crossing in a continuous flow three days after the exodus began. UNHCR staff still remaining in N'Djamena said they saw many people leaving the capital and heading south on Tuesday.

The UN refugee agency is also preparing to send two airlift flights this week from its regional aid stockpiles in Dubai to Cameroon, while a second UNHCR team was scheduled to leave the Cameroon capital, Yaoundé, on Tuesday for Kousséri. This team includes a water sanitation officer.

The two UNHCR airlifts will carry 90 tonnes of relief supplies, including plastic sheeting, jerry cans, blankets, mosquito nets, kitchen sets and plastic rolls. These supplies will be enough for 14,000 refugees.

A large number of people are being hosted with relatives in Kousséri, while others have found refuge in schools and some are staying in the few hotels of the town. Between 6,000 and 7,000 refugees are staying at a transit centre located near the bridge over the Chari River.

The UNHCR team members, who arrived in Kousséri on Monday evening, said these people were the most vulnerable as they had been spending the past few nights in the open, with very little protection from the elements. The refugees made two big bonfires on Monday night to get some warmth.

"We are bringing some aid supplies from east Cameroon, including blankets and plastic sheeting to help them. We are also in the process of hiring trucks in Kousséri to transport refugees to Maltam," said team chief Gilbert Loubaki, referring to a campsite last used by the refugee agency several years ago.

The site in Maltam, located 32 kilometres from Kousséri, could host up to 100,000 people and is equipped with wells. Authorities in Kousséri told UNHCR that 62 wounded people, who escaped fighting in N'Djamena, were being treated in the local hospital.

The UNHCR team was due to meet again on Tuesday morning with the authorities and the Cameroon Red Cross Society in Kousséri in order to coordinate and speed up assistance to the refugees.

"We are working together with the local authorities and the Red Cross to assist the refugees in Kousséri," said Loubaki, who is the deputy representative for protection in UNHCR's N'Djamena office. He was among those evacuated from the Chadian capital to Cameroon last Friday.

Two UNHCR trucks with relief items such as blankets, plastic sheeting and cooking sets departed Bertoua, in eastern Cameroon, on Monday and were scheduled to arrive in Kousséri on Tuesday night.

In eastern Chad, meanwhile, UNHCR and its partners continue to care for hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people. But continuing security concerns led to the evacuation on Monday of 25 non-essential staff from UNHCR's main field operations base at Abéché. They were among 47 non-essential UN staff and 99 non-governmental organization workers flown in two UN planes to Yaoundé.

UNHCR decided to take this precautionary security measure on Sunday, following reports of bombing and attacks around Adré, which is located east of Abéché near the border with Sudan's Darfur region.

Conditions are reported as calm but tense in Abéché. The security situation remains difficult further to the north, in Guéréda, where a series of armed attacks on UNHCR and other aid agencies last week forced an evacuation of most staff. There was another bandit attack on Mile refugee camp near Guéréda yesterday. Firing weapons, the armed men stole the sixth vehicle in a week, but no injuries were reported.

UNHCR and its partners operate 12 camps in eastern Chad with some 240,000 Sudanese refugees from neighbouring Darfur. Another 50,000 refugees from the Central African Republic are sheltered in camps in southern Chad. In addition, UNHCR is involved in providing help to some of the 180,000 Chadians who have been displaced internally by earlier unrest in Chad.

These hundreds of thousands of uprooted people in Chad depend on international support and a very fragile aid lifeline that must reach some of the most desolate and isolated parts of the country. UNHCR urgently appeals to all sides to respect humanitarian principles and to halt the violence.

• DONATE NOW • • GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

 

Related stories by:

UNHCR country pages

Crisis in the Central African Republic

Little has been reported about the humanitarian crisis in the northern part of the Central African Republic (CAR), where at least 295,000 people have been forced out of their homes since mid-2005. An estimated 197,000 are internally displaced, while 98,000 have fled to Chad, Cameroon or Sudan. They are the victims of fighting between rebel groups and government forces.

Many of the internally displaced live in the bush close to their villages. They build shelters from hay, grow vegetables and even start bush schools for their children. But access to clean water and health care remains a huge problem. Many children suffer from diarrhoea and malaria but their parents are too scared to take them to hospitals or clinics for treatment.

Cattle herders in northern CAR are menaced by the zaraguina, bandits who kidnap children for ransom. The villagers must sell off their livestock to pay.

Posted on 21 February 2008

Crisis in the Central African Republic

Battling the Elements in Chad

More than 180,000 Sudanese refugees have fled violence in Sudan's Darfur region, crossing the border to the remote desert of eastern Chad.

It is one of the most inhospitable environments UNHCR has ever had to work in. Vast distances, extremely poor road conditions, scorching daytime temperatures, sandstorms, the scarcity of vegetation and firewood, and severe shortages of drinkable water have been major challenges since the beginning of the operation. Now, heavy seasonal rains are falling, cutting off the few usable roads, flooding areas where refugees had set up makeshift shelters, and delaying the delivery of relief supplies.

Despite the enormous environmental challenges, UNHCR has so far managed to establish nine camps and relocate the vast majority of the refugees who are willing to move from the volatile border.

Battling the Elements in Chad

Chad: Relocation from the Border to Refugee Camps

Since fighting broke out in Sudan's western region of Darfur last year, more than 110,000 Sudanese refugees have fled into Chad. They are scattered along a 600-km stretch of desert borderland under a scorching sun during the day and freezing temperatures during the night.

Access to these refugees in this inhospitable region is difficult. Staff of the UN refugee agency drive for days to locate them. Bombing in the border zone and cross-border raids by militia from Sudan put the refugees at risk and underscore the urgent need to move them to camps in the interior. In addition, the approach of the rainy season in May will make the sandy roads impassable. Aid workers are racing against time in an attempt bring emergency relief to these refugees.

Chad: Relocation from the Border to Refugee Camps

Cameroon: A Silent CrisisPlay video

Cameroon: A Silent Crisis

In Cameroon, more than 60,000 refugees have fled Central African Republic after systematic attacks by armed gangs. Despite the atrocities, this crisis has gone largely unnoticed by the international community - perhaps because it is overshadowed by the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. UNHCR is trying to address the enormous needs.
The Mbororo: A way of life at riskPlay video

The Mbororo: A way of life at risk

Systematic attacks on settlements in Central African Republic have forced more than 60,000 people from the Mbororo tribe to flee to neighbouring Cameroon. UNHCR is trying to help these nomadic herdsmen restart their lives.
Chad: Influx from Central African RepublicPlay video

Chad: Influx from Central African Republic

The conflict in Central African Republic (CAR) receives far less media attention than that in Darfur, but the effects are much the same. More than 17,000 people have crossed into Chad since January, bringing the total number of CAR refugees to almost 70,000.