Submitted by crinadmin on
[24 May 2006] – With 50,000 internally displaced people and 20,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad and an additional 50,000 Central African Republic refugees in the south, a senior United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative called the circumstances in the Sahelian country a long overlooked crisis. “Chad has been for many years a forgotten emergency,” UNICEF Representative in Chad Stephen Adkisson said. “It was reasonably well-funded in support to the Sudanese refugees, but development support to the Chadians has not received the funds it needs.” Banditry and lawlessness have been increasing as elements take advantage of the Government’s inability to control the situation, he said. “There are disparate rebel groups around the country continuing to create insecurity. The principal difficulties are in the east around the town of Abeche and near the border with Sudan. The cause of this insecurity is both the rebel activity and the janjaweed [militia] coming across the border from Sudan, and an element called the Chadian janjaweed.” The UNICEF Water, Environment and Sanitation Officer in the Abeche field office, Sylvia Gaya, who was attacked and shot at on 5 May, remained in hospital in serious but improving condition, UNICEF said. Despite this incident, UNICEF humanitarian workers returned to their posts in eastern Chad after having been evacuated for security reasons during the presidential election earlier this month, the agency said. While remaining concerned about the continuing tension, UNICEF continued to provide vital assistance to Chadians who have been forced from their homes by the violence and who could be away for as long as a year. “UNICEF support to the internally displaced Chadians starts with the provision of water both to the welcoming communities and to the new arrivals,” Mr. Adkisson said. “We provide education facilities, establish temporary schools, supply school materials and train new teachers. We provide health care facilities, vaccination against measles, essential drugs and provision of mosquito nets in an area where malaria is the number-one cause of death amongst children.” UNICEF Chad also offers psycho-social support to children who have witnessed atrocities in their home communities, he said. At the beginning of May, UNICEF issued a $12.3 million humanitarian appeal to help respond to the needs of the internally displaced and refugee families in eastern Chad, including health, nutrition, water and environmental sanitation, education and child protection.