Another 4,000 Central African refugees flee to Chad, UN says

The third major wave of people from Central African Republic (CAR) this year have sought refuge in southern Chad, telling representatives of the United Nations refugee agency that unidentified armed groups had attacked villages in their region earlier this month.

Some 4,000 refugees arrived from northern CAR over the past week, saying they had fled looting and feared that violence might break out, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today. In June and July about 10,000 CAR citizens crossed the border following clashes between Government forces and unidentified armed groups.

In Bekoninda, the new arrivals are being sheltered in classrooms or in the homes of local people. Another group of refugees is being hosted in a warehouse offered by the chief of the village of Bala, UNHCR said today.

A joint assessment mission, comprising representatives of UNHCR, UN World Food Programme (WFP), non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the Government’s refugee body, drove to the villages of Bekoninda, Bala, Beyoko and Kaba, located at the border some 40 kilometres south of Gore, the main town in southern Chad, to talk to the refugees.

They will be relocated after the Chadian Government designates a new site for the new arrivals. Amboko, the closest refugee camp to the border, already hosts 20,000 refugees – including 7,000 who were relocated last July from the border after fleeing the clashes in CAR in June. The free space in the camp, however, is being used for refugee farming, UNHCR said.