Humanitarian
efforts to assist Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad are entering
a critical phase and need to be expanded, the president of the
International Federation declared in N’Djamena on Wednesday.
Concluding a two-day visit to the region to discuss the crisis,
Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro warned that the situation
was evolving rapidly and that conditions for refugees were deteriorating.
In the course of the day, Suárez del Toro met the Chadian
prime minister, Moussa Faki, and the minister of public health,
Aziza Baroud, who reiterated their support for the important
role that the Chad Red Cross (CRC) was playing in assisting
the refugees in the east, with the backing of the Federation.
“The Chad Red Cross has responded to every emergency in
the country for thirty years, and will continue to do so when
the current crisis is over,” declared the prime minister,
“Its efforts are a vital part of the humanitarian operation
underway in Chad.”
The president’s visit came as the Red Cross scales up
its operations in Chad. At the request of the UN High Commission
for Refugees (UNHCR), it has started to supply non-food items
such as tents and soap, in addition to the 23 all-terrain trucks
and 150 volunteers that have been at work since the early days
of the crisis.
“Over the past four months, 100,000 refugees have been
transferred safely to established camps,” Alphonse Malanda,
head of the UNHCR mission in Chad, told Suárez del Toro.
“This would not have been possible without the efforts
of the Red Cross.”
Malanda confirmed that the UNHCR was keen to see the Red Cross
take over a wide range of duties in a new camp at Treijin. These
would include camp management, sanitation, basic health care,
and community services, with partners Oxfam and Unicef in charge
of water and education.
The new camp, planned for up to 20,000 refugees, is due to open
shortly to relieve Breijin camp, which has found it hard to
accommodate large numbers of spontaneous arrivals. It will also
take in new transfers from border sites.
The challenges involved in the operation are huge. The rainy
season has begun in the south of the affected zone, and is moving
north, making transport increasingly difficult and unreliable.
Water and sanitation facilities have struggled to keep pace
with the new arrivals, and as a result the health situation
of refugees has deteriorated. Cases of malaria and other diseases
are on the rise.
The UNHCR now reckons that close to 200,000 Sudanese have fled
to Chad, many of whom have arrived in recent weeks after a long
ordeal. This has put tremendous pressure on the camps and stretched
the delivery of food supplies. More refugees are crossing the
border each day, and, with an estimated 1.2 million displaced
people still within Darfur, a further important influx cannot
be ruled out.
“The Chad Red Cross, with the support of the Federation
and other Red Cross societies, is mobilising its resources to
meet the difficult challenges ahead,” said Suárez
del Toro.
Before visiting Chad, the Federation president visited the Sudanese
capital Khartoum, where he discussed a wide range of humanitarian
issues currently affecting Sudan, in particular the situation
in the western province of Darfur.
His visit was also aimed at supporting the work of the Sudanese
Red Crescent and the sister National Societies present in Sudan.
During his stay in Khartoum, Suárez del Toro held talks
with the Sudanese Humanitarian Affair Minister, Ibrahim Mahmed,
and International Affair Minister, Mustafa Osman, as well as
representatives of non-governmental and international aid organisations.
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Chad
Red Cross volunteers assist some of the 190,000 refugees
who have crossed into Chad from Darfur (p11774)
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Federation
President Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro meets Chad
Red Cross volunteers during his visit to N'Djamena (p11773)
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The
Sudanese Red Crescent has been at the forefront of efforts
to bring assistance to the victims of the conflict in
Darfur (p11771)
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Juan
Manuel Suárez del Toro during talks at the headquarters
of the Sudanese Red Crescent in Khartoum (p11772)
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