Aid worker in "critical condition" after carjacking in east

As an aid worker with the UN children's agency became the latest victim of lawlessness in eastern Chad, humanitarian agencies on Monday called on the government to crack down on militias. The female Spanish UNICEF worker was shot twice at close range by a man in military uniform on Friday in the eastern town Abeche, according to a UN statement. She was thrown from the car by the perpetrator who drove off with the vehicle, making the attack the 24th carjacking of a humanitarian vehicle in Chad, the statement added. "Over the last few months there have been continuing incidences of insecurity and attacks against humanitarians," said UNICEF representative in N'djamena Stephen Adkisson. UNICEF is part of a UN mission in eastern Chad assisting a quarter million refugees from the troubled Darfur region of Sudan and the war-torn northern area of Central African Republic, both of which share borders with Chad. Last month, rebels who want to oust President Idriss Deby swept through eastern Chad before launching a failed coup in the capital N'djamena. Aid workers say the rebel attacks have drawn the attention of Chad's armed forces away from providing security for Chadians and refugees as the government hunts down Deby's enemies. A relocation of forces after a December attack on the northeastern town of Adre has left 1,000 km of Chad's troubled border with Sudan un-patrolled, they say. "[We are] continuing to ask for support from the Chadian government to further take up their responsibility for assurances of security in their own territory, for their own population but also to maintain their responsibilities for protection of humanitarian agencies and workers," said UNICEF's Adkisson. "We are essentially down to the minimum most essential international staff already. Refugees within the camps have been increasingly picking up the responsibility to care of themselves," Adkisson added. Following a string of attacks by armed rebel groups on Chadian towns in mid-April, around 170 non-essential UN staff were evacuated to Cameroon. A further 17 UNHCR personnel were evacuated from the camps of southern Chad last week, following rumours of an impending rebel attack. Deby, who last week successfully ran for a controversial third-term as president after changing Chad's constitutional term-limit, has denied there is a rebellion taking place in Chad. Deby accuses Sudan of backing militia groups in a bid to destablise his regime. Khartoum denies the allegations. A week of intense mediation efforts in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday produced a peace deal between Khartoum and the largest rebel group fighting in Darfur after three years of fighting. "If peace is re-established in Sudan then we hope that the same might apply in Chad," said Stefano Porretti, Chad Country Director for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), which has warned repeatedly that security concerns in eastern Chad are jeopardising its operation to feed more than 200,000 Darfurian refugees. However, Porretti noted, "it is clear that the primary party with responsibility for what is happening in Chad is the Chadian government. The government has got to provide adequate assistance for humanitarian operations in those areas and that includes to humanitarian workers, internally displaced Chadians, and refugees."