Remote refugees pose logistical hurdle

Aid agencies face what a UN official called a “major challenge” in reaching some 6,000 Central African refugees living in southern Chad just 1km from the border they crossed when fleeing attacks in their villages.



Many of the refugees have said they want to stay near the border but the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) must eventually move the aid operation farther into Chad, according UNHCR.



Trucks loaded with UN food and other aid supplies were scheduled to set off on 27 February for a three-day drive to where the refugees are living in makeshift shelters near the village of Daha, 935km from the main eastern town and humanitarian hub, Abéché. It is the second aid convoy to Daha this month.



“It is a major challenge to reach such a remote area,” said Serge Malé, the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) representative in Chad. “We are assisting this group with emergency aid and [we] provide them with plastic sheeting and basic non-food items on a continuous basis.”



UNHCR plans to move refugees to a safer site farther from the border and more easily accessible for aid agencies; the agency is awaiting a decision from the Chadian government on a new site, according to UNHCR. 



“According to UNHCR policy a refugee camp should be at least 50km from a border,” Måns Nyberg, UNHCR spokesperson in Chad, told IRIN.



But many refugees have said they want to stay near the border, some so they can tend to their crops back in Central African Republic (CAR).

Photo: V. Ndakass/UNHCR

One of at least 6,000 people living in makeshift shelters in southern Chad after fleeing Central African Republic

No roads connect Daha with existing camps in southern Chad, which house some 53,000 Central Africans who have fled since 2003. Once the rains start in June access to Daha will be impossible, Nyberg said.



The refugees – 83 percent of whom women and children, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – fled CAR in December and January after attacks by rebels and clashes between rebels and government forces. UNHCR says people continue to cross the border into the Daha area.



“All [the supplies] we had have been distributed already because there is a constant stream of refugees crossing the border,” said a UNHCR worker in Daha who did not wish to be named. "What [the refugees need] most now are non-food items such as jerry cans, plastic sheeting and mats.”



UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the UN Population Fund and Médecins Sans Frontières-France are providing assistance at Daha.



UNICEF has deployed a health team, according to a UNICEF paper on the aid operation. The agency has vaccinated children against measles and polio, assessed malnutrition levels and provided medicines and receptacles for safe water.



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