Ministers urge refugees to return home

Two Central African Republic (CAR) ministers have called upon some 41,000 refugees who have been living in southern Chad since early 2003 to return home, Radio Centrafrique reported on Tuesday. Social Affairs Minister Lea Doumta and Communications Minister Parfait Mbaye toured on Monday the Chadian town of Gore, near the border with CAR, where an estimated 13,000 refugees are located. They toured the town of Sahr on Tuesday. "We have not yet envisaged the repatriation of CAR refugees in Chad," Emile Segbor, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in CAR and Chad told IRIN on Tuesday. The refugees have been living in southern Chad since early in the year when fighting between rebels and government troops intensified in the north of the CAR. During the fighting, many people crossed the border into Chad but many others hid in the bush, where they remained until recently due to insecurity that followed Francois Bozize’s 15 March coup against President Ange-Felix Patasse. The refugees have been receiving relief aid from the UNHCR and medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium.