Thousands flee Darfur fighting

A total of 65,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to eastern Chad since April to escape ongoing clashes between the government of Sudan and rebels in the western Darfur region, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Many were being taken care of by local Chadians from the same ethnic groups, but others were showing signs of exposure and suffering from pneumonia and other ailments, said UNHCR spokesman Rupert Coleville. Relief efforts were being hampered by the rainy season. UN officials and two members of the Chadian parliament are currently on an assessment mission to villages around Abeche and Adre to ascertain the principal needs of the refugees, he added. Humanitarian sources said that in Darfur itself, thousands of civilians - who appear to be targeted from the Fur, Zaghawa, Masalit and Tungur ethnic groups - have been displaced, and hundreds killed in clashes between the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and government-affiliated militia groups, government troops or by aerial bombings. According to UNHCR officials, the latest arrivals in Chad said they had been targeted by gunfire from aircraft. In the town of Kutum, civilians said they were "deliberately targeted because they were community leaders and businessmen from the Zaghawa, Fur and Tungur ethnic groups", Amnesty International reported last week. According to the Darfur inter-agency group, which comprises local and international aid representatives, Kutum hospital was damaged in crossfire, drugs and equipment were looted, the town's main water source was damaged, and telephone communications destroyed. Bodies had been buried close to a water source, leading to the risk of contamination, dead animals and rubbish had accumulated on the streets and the public health services were not functioning because staff had been displaced, the group said. AI said last week it feared the death toll in Darfur could be much higher because of the difficulty in accessing the remote region and a "blackout on news from Darfur in Khartoum". Darfur, home to approximately one fifth of Sudan's population of 30 million people, has become Sudan's main battleground in recent months, human rights groups say. The SLA launched its rebellion in March to fight against "marginalisation, racial discrimination, and exploitation" in the region.