Relocation to begin as UN refugee agency ends registrations in Chad border town

United Nations refugee agency staff and their counterparts from Chad have finished registering almost 5,000 Sudanese refugees in and around the border town of Tine ahead of their urgent relocation to safer positions further inside Chad.

The relocation of the 4,357 refugees could start by the end of this week. A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today the agency wants to move the refugees as quickly as possible after several bombs exploded near Tine last Thursday.

More than 110,000 refugees, from neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region, have been gathering near Tine and other sites along the Chadian-Sudanese border for almost a year since fighting erupted in Darfur between the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and forces loyal to the Sudanese Government.

Several thousand refugees arrived last month alone after attacks by militias on their villages in Darfur. Some 5,194 recent refugees have been registered in four sites between Tine and the village of Birak, with registration in Birak to begin today.

Already UNHCR has moved more than 1,000 refugees to newly constructed camps inside Chad, where they will be safe from cross-border raids by militia groups. The agency is increasing its staff numbers in the area to deal with the refugee influx.