No food, no shelter as thousands flee to Chad

The situation for about 30,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) who have fled to the south of neighbouring Chad "is becoming more precarious by the day" since the 15 March coup in the CAR, the international NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported on Tuesday from Brussels. "The wealthiest among them are obvious, because they have a sleeping mat and a cooking pot, but even they have nothing to eat," Sonia Payrassol, the MSF emergency coordinator in Chad, said. "The amount of food distributed to the refugees so far has been too little in terms of both content and quantity." MSF said it was concerned that as the crisis deepened, "international aid agencies seem reluctant to react". It said most of the refugees had no shelter and remained scattered around the border villages sleeping in the streets. "Many of these villages have seen their populations double or triple at a time when the dry season means that even in normal circumstances water and food is already scarce," MSF said. It gave as an example the village of Koumba, which, with only one well, had seen its population rise from 300 to 2,100 within a short period. "The victory for Gen [Francois] Bozize is not a cause for celebration for the refugees in Chad; it can't bring back the homes and crops that have been burned, and it can't take away the fear of many that return to CAR remains impossible at this time," Payrassol said. The NGO said that in addition to rampant insecurity in CAR and "widespread ethnicity-linked" reprisals, "the war has amplified what was already a savage land conflict between farmers and herders". "For the refugees in Chad, who are predominantly farmers, the conclusion of the civil war between ex-President [Ange-Felix] Patasse and the new self-proclaimed president, Bozize, is far from a signal to return home. On the contrary, the influx of refugees to Chad is continuing, and their condition is deteriorating," it said. "And the influx is showing no sign of abating. In the village of Maro alone, more than 1,000 refugees have arrived in the last few days." It added that ever since the CAR crisis intensified in November 2002, the NGO had repeatedly called for aid, but remained the only organisation to have supplied medical aid. MSF said it had also built refugee transit camps with a capacity of 2,000 at Gore and Danamadji, both villages near to the Chad-CAR border. It said these camps were already full. "Food and shelter are urgently needed for the 26,000 refugees with nothing already in that area, and time is short," MSF said. "As such, MSF is again calling on international agencies to fulfil their mandates and assist comprehensively and with greater rapidity to prevent the situation from further deteriorating."