UN races to move thousands of refugees before rains cut access

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is racing to relocate thousands of people in southern Chad who fled violence in the Central African Republic before heavy rains cut them off from humanitarian assistance. An estimated 10,000 refugees have been living since early June in makeshift shelters in 17 Chadian villages scattered near the border with the Central African Republic. “We hope to start moving people in the coming days,” UNHCR spokesperson Ginette Le Breton told IRIN Wednesday. The refugees are drinking river water and have no proper sanitation, and many of the women and children are showing signs of malnourishment. “Some of the refugees have been able to buy food, but most are living on wild fruits and roots,” Le Breton said. Bernard Ntwari of UNHCR told IRIN that rains have already disrupted distributions of relief supplies to the refugees. “Last week we even had trouble getting to some of the sites when one road became flooded,” he said. Another 30,000 refugees from Central African Republic have been living in refugee camps in Chad since clashes in 2002 between fighters loyal to former president Ange-Felix Patasse and to his then army chief of staff Francis Bozize, who was sworn in as the newly-elected president last month. This latest influx of refugees into Chad was sparked by violence between government forces and unidentified armed groups in early June, according to UNHCR. Le Breton said the agency was meeting with government officials to decide where to place the additional refugees, with one option being a camp near the city of Gore, where about 13,000 refugees are currently sheltered in a facility that can take up to 27,000. Ntwari said it was still not clear exactly how many CAR refugees have entered into Chad in the last month as they had been entering at several points along the border. “10,000 is our planning figure,” he said. UNHCR expects to need an extra US $1 million from donors to assist the new influx of refugees, according to Le Breton.