UN agency makes contact with refugees stranded by flooding in Chad

After being stymied for weeks by swollen rivers and wrecked bridges, the United Nations refugee agency has established contact with the leaders of some 2,000 refugees fleeing continued violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) and who are presently stranded in southern Chad, the agency said today.

Five representatives of the refugees, who are in 12 locations around the village of Bekam, travelled by canoe and on foot with local officials over the weekend to meet staff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the village of Bedoumia, about 10 kilometres from Bekam. They also met with officials from CNAR – Chad's national refugee authority – and the Chadian Red Cross.

“This is the first time that we've have direct contact with this group of refugees since they crossed over to southern Chad from CAR three weeks ago,” said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond in Geneva.

The refugees said they fled their villages in northern CAR because of deteriorating security, including attacks by unidentified armed groups and cattle breeders who want to graze animals on their fields, he added.

“Relocation of the 2,000 refugees is going to be extremely difficult and may require the use of canoes because Bekam is now an island,” Mr. Redmond said, adding that only one 10-seat canoe is available in the village. “The transfer of the refugees is all the more urgent because they are currently dependent on the generosity of the local villagers in Bekam. Sanitation is also a concern there,” he said.

Once transferred from Bekam to Bedoumia by boat, the refugees will be temporarily housed in the Amboko camp, which is already hosting 23,000 people from CAR and is close to its maximum capacity of 27,000.

Because of the overcrowding at Amboko, the Chadian Government agreed to the construction of a new camp in the south and UNHCR has proposed a site at Bedamara, about 10 kilometres from Amboko. A UNHCR site planner will travel to Goré this week to begin layout preparations for the new site.

There are presently 40,000 to 45,000 refugees from the CAR in southern Chad, UNHCR said. The majority arrived after fleeing a 2003 military coup. In June and July of this year, some 10,000 additional people arrived following clashes between Government forces and unidentified armed groups.