The
Red Cross operations currently underway in eastern Chad are
aimed at providing assistance for Sudanese refugees who have
fled the fighting in the province of Darfur.
As many as 95,000 Sudanese refugees are thought to have crossed
the border into Chad since late last year, fleeing the troubled
western Sudanese province of Darfur. Most of them are women
and children who have left Sudan without even basic means of
subsistence. They are currently dispersed over 400 kilometres
of harsh terrain from Tine to Tizzi, making assistance operations
nearly impossible.
The Chad Red Cross has been active on the ground from the start
of the emergency with 30 local volunteers, soon to be reinforced
by a further 50. Their immediate priority is to gather the refugees
into the four camps being set up by the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) at a safe distance from the
border and with proper access to water and sanitation facilities.
From these sites it will be easier to distribute the food supplied
by the World Food Programme (WFP)and non-food aid from the UNHCR.
So far, only 2,000 have moved into the first camp at Farchana.
This operation will be considerably accelerated, however, with
the imminent deployment in the area of a large fleet of Red
Cross trucks.
Indeed, 20 six-wheel drive vehicles supplied by the Norwegian
Red Cross landed in the capital N’Djamena this week. Most
of them will be making their way east in the next few days,
loaded with Red Cross blankets and jerry cans, as well as aid
from the WFP. Once in place they will be used to transport refugees
into the camps and deliver much needed assistance.
The arrival of these trucks, along with the telecommunications
equipment to support the operation, has brought a welcome boost
to the Chad Red Cross, whose limited means have been stretched
by the multiple programmes it is running.
In addition to the crisis in the East, it has been successfully
carrying out relief activities in the south of the country for
the past year, in support of 60,000 refugees from the neighbouring
Central African Republic. This operation is now moving from
emergency to assistance work, with an eye to preparing for the
return of refugees to their home country.
Educational programmes and HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns are
now being implemented in the two camps concerned. Several of
the newly-arrived trucks will be deployed in the south.
These two emergency relief operations have also put pressure
on other programmes of the Chad Red Cross, as resources were
concentrated on the most urgent needs. These will now continue
with increased means. “The Chad Red Cross is committed
to all the vulnerable people in the country,” says its
president, Yaya Mahamat Liguita, “and we are now in a
better position to assist them than before.”
The arrival of the trucks has also reinforced the credibility
of the Chad Red Cross in the eyes of its partners in the field.
Indeed, in agreement with the UNHCR and WFP, it has been focusing
its relief activities on transport and distribution. This has
worked well in the south since last year, and will be all the
more successful given the new capacity of the Chad Red Cross.
The Chad Red Cross is already looking ahead to the future. It
is particularly conscious that along with increased means come
increased responsibilities, both in terms of the maintenance
of the vehicles and telecommunications equipment as of the management
of these resources.
It is determined to make the most of this opportunity for the
sake of current operations as well as for the long run. “Once
these emergencies are over, our equipment will be available
to assist in other relief operations across the region,”
predicts the president.
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The
majority of people who have fled from Darfur into Chad
are women and children (Reuters Alertnet)
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The
arrival of the first batch of Norwegian Red Cross trucks
on 2 February elicited great interest in N'Djamena (p11167)
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The
all-terrain M6 trucks will greatly boost the ability of
the Chad Red Cross to distribute humanitarian aid to the
refugees (p11169)
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Sudanese refugees are scattered over several hundred kilometres
of arid terrain. Many are living out in the open with
little food or water (Reuters Alertnet)
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