DAKAR
Two Sudanese refugees were killed in Farchana Camp, eastern Chad, after Chadian government forces entered the camp to search for weapons following a riot on the 13 July, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) announced in a statement.
Thursday’s statement confirmed that the body of a man and a woman had been taken from the camp, though it was not clear whether the two were killed during the intervention by the Chadian forces.
IRIN attempted to contact Chadian ministers by telephone for confirmation, without success.
Farchana camp lies 100km east of Abeche, close to the Sudanese border and the troubled Darfur region.
Aid workers told IRIN on the day of the rioting in Farchana Camp, that the unrest was sparked when a Japanese environment agency asked the refugees to plant trees.
The refugees opposed the move, seeing it as an attempt to keep them in camps instead of speeding up their return. Two aid workers were injured in the ensuing panic and later evacuated to the Abeche Hospital.
Three days later, riots erupted in the Breidjing Camp, 30 km from Farchana, when CARE International employees carrying out sanitation work were attacked by refugees who mistakenly thought they were spies sent by the government of Khartoum.
On Monday, Chadian authorities barred humanitarian organisations from entering either of the camps, which between them host more than 40,000 refugees as the situation has become too volatile.
However, this has led to a deterioration in conditions, said aid workers, as water distribution, sanitation work, food and shelter distribution and the provision of medical care have ground to a halt.
The local authorities are discussing with the refugees to see if agreements can be made to allow the humanitarian workers back on the camps. But, according to UNHCR officials, progress has been hindered by the conflicting views and demands of the refugee representatives.
Chad is currently host to 180,000 Sudanese refugees who fled atrocities in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions