Sudanese refugees begin arriving at safer UN camps inside Chad

Officials from the United Nations refugee agency have relocated the first batches of Sudanese refugees from their makeshift homes along the unstable border with Chad to safer camps further inside that country.

Today a convoy of 240 refugees left the border for a newly constructed camp at Farchana, 55 kilometres away - joining a group of 148 refugees who were transferred to the same camp on Saturday.

Eventually the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects that Farchana will house between 9,000 and 12,000 refugees, part of some 95,000 people who have escaped the war-torn Darfur region in western Sudan and crossed into Chad.

The new camps in Chad's interior have been erected by UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a bid to protect the refugees from repeated cross-border raids by Sudanese militias.

Dalma, one of the first refugees to reach Farchana, told UNHCR staff that she feels more secure in the new location. "I feel I can sleep in peace and not fear attacks by the militia," she said.

Each family that arrives and registers at camps such as Farchana is allocated a plot of land, a tent, 15 days of food rations and a relief package containing supplies such blankets, soap and mosquito nets.

Fabrice Liebaut, an emergency protection officer for UNHCR in eastern Chad, said relocating the refugees would be a difficult challenge. "Even though many refugees expressed their desire to move to a more secure camp, the relocation still generates a lot of anxiety among them. Moving away from the border means moving away from their original home in Sudan and from families and friends they might have left behind."

UNHCR officials are anxious to establish other camps quickly ahead of the anticipated arrival of the rainy season in May, when many local roads will become impassable. Two other sites for potential camps have been identified.

The Darfur region has been torn by violence since early last year, when conflict erupted between the Sudanese Government and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).