Lack of funds threatens air link to refugees

A cash crunch means a vital air service that ferries humanitarian personnel between the Chadian capital of N’djamena and refugee camps in the south and east could be discontinued next month - at the height of the rainy season - said the United Nations World Food Programme on Wednesday. WFP said they had received less than half of the US$1.8 million needed to maintain the service until the end of the year and reach 190,000 Sudanese refugees gathered in eight camps along the border who have fled fighting in the Darfur region of west Sudan. “If we do not get fresh funds, we will be obliged to halt the air service in July,” Philippe Guyon Le Bouffy, WFP’s Country Director, told IRIN. Many of Chad’s dirt roads become impassable during the rainy season, making the WFP’s air service even more important. “The suspension of this service at a time when access by road will be difficult will virtually cut off humanitarian workers from tens of thousands of refugees,” Guyon Le Bouffy added. WFP began operating an 8-seater aircraft in February this year. But the service, which operates at least four times a week and is free to humanitarian workers, was over subscribed and a 19-seat plane had to be contracted. The WFP service allows humanitarian workers to travel the 900 kilometres to Abeche in eastern Chad, and continue to the refugee camps near the border with Sudan in less than two hours. By road, the journey takes at least two days. Now that the rains have started, the dirt road is sometimes impassable and will remain so until the end of the rainy season in October. “The aircraft was aimed mainly at transporting relief workers from N’djamena to the camps in the east and the south of the country. But we have regularly transported high-protein biscuits or medical supplies. We have also used it several times to evacuate people from Abeche to N’djamena,” Guyon Le Bouffy said. Humanitarian workers told IRIN the service was vital to maintaining links with refugees that have fled through the desert from fighting in Darfur region. “With the rainy season, it will be impossible to reach the refugees without a plane. Running the plane is a priority," Michel Françoys, Medecins Sans Frontieres Belgium’s Head of Mission told IRIN. “I myself often use the plane, and we have one or two staff on board every day,” he added. WFP has other funding shortfalls in Chad. It has half of the US$30.5 million needed to buy 31,000 tonnes of food for 192,500 people until the end of the year. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, last week raised its estimate of the number of Sudanese refugees that have fled across the border into Chad to escape the violence to 193,000. Sheltering along the semi-arid frontier, the refugees are vulnerable to cross-border raids by Sudanese Janjawid militia groups who are fighting alongside the Sudanese army. UNHCR is relocating the refugees to special camps away from the border where they are provided with tents, food and a supply of clean water. Some 106,000 have been moved so far.