Central African Republic: UN refugee agency ‘very concerned’ over new unrest
Voicing serious concern over continuing unrest in northern areas of the Central African Republic (CAR), the United Nations refugee agency said today it had received reports that up to 3,000 people could be headed toward the border with Chad after an attack Tuesday on the town of Markounda by an unidentified armed group.
Voicing serious concern over continuing unrest in northern areas of the Central African Republic (CAR), the United Nations refugee agency said today it had received reports that up to 3,000 people could be headed toward the border with Chad after an attack Tuesday on the town of Markounda by an unidentified armed group.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is deploying a team based in Chad to the border tomorrow with Chadian Government officials to check if there are any new influxes, spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva.
The unrest is also causing additional concern because of an ongoing UNHCR repatriation operation bringing some 1,500 Chadian refugees back to their homeland from northern CAR.
Last week, Chadian authorities agreed on the construction of a new refugee site at Gondjé, six kilometres from the UNHCR existing camp at Amboko, which is now full with 24,000 CAR refugees. There are already more than 40,000 refugees from CAR in southern Chad. Another 200,000 refugees from Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region are hosted in eastern Chad.