UN rights official calls on international community to help displaced Chadians

A United Nations humanitarian expert has called on the international community to help Chad protect and assist tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) uprooted by an upsurge of violence and theft by janjaweed militias from Sudan.

“While Chad and Sudan have suspended diplomatic relations over allegations that each hosts rebels opposed to the other’s government, the people of both countries, both the internally displaced and those who have fled across the joint border, are paying a terrible price,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Representative on the Human Rights of IDPs, Walter Kälin, said in a statement.

“Recognizing that the crisis has outstripped its resources, Chad has requested assistance from the international community to improve protection,” he added, noting that more than 50,000 Chadians have been displaced recently in addition to the over 200,000 refugees from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region that Chad is already hosting. “We must not turn our backs on this request, or to the thousands presently at risk.”

Mr. Kälin noted that Chad, a historically refugee-receiving country whose people “have extended their generosity to those in need of international support and protection,” is facing an overwhelming burden on the local population and support structures in its eastern region. “Both refugees and internally displaced persons are at risk of violence by regular and irregular groups, as are humanitarian workers,” he said.

“After three years of uncontained destruction in Darfur, the janjaweed have increasingly violated Chad’s border, initially pursuing refugees from Darfur and now targeting Chadian communities,” he added.

“I urgently call on the Chadian and Sudanese authorities, and the international community, to provide protection to the area’s residents, Sudanese and Chadian alike.”