Source: AlertNet
By George Fominyen
DAKAR (AlertNet) -
Aid workers in Chad have complained to local authorities that armed groups are present in refugee camps, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has told AlertNet. U.N. officials say they are aware that armed groups have been entering camps in the northeast and have raised the issue with Chadian authorities, although they did not say which groups were involved.
The local administrative officer of Amdjaras, the main town near Oure Cassoni - a big refugee camp - promised aid workers last week he would look into the issue, the IRC country director, Philippe Adapoe, said on Thursday. Over 250,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region live in camps in eastern Chad, some of which are in an isolated desert near the border where Darfur and Chadian rebels often roam. Here are some questions and answers on security for humanitarian workers and refugees.
What are the concerns of aid workers?
Their main concern is a lack of respect for the civilian nature of refugee camps by guerrillas. "They enter the camps with their guns and they ignore DIS (the U.N.-trained police) and ignore instructions to leave their guns at the entrance to the camps," a humanitarian worker, who declined to be named, told AlertNet. A U.N. official said the presence of belligerents risked turning a camp into a target, endangering refugees and aid workers.
There was also the risk that aid meant for refugees would end up going to an armed group. Relief agencies also say armed groups recruit in the camps, even enlisting children, and some groups regularly rape refugee women and girls when they go out in search of firewood and water.
Which refugee camps are concerned?
A BBC reporter and staff from some humanitarian organisations say they have seen fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) from neighbouring Sudan in a camp in the Bahay area, by the border with Sudan in the north-east of Chad.
JEM rebels "come in and out" of Oure Cassoni camp, 1,000 km (600 miles) from the capital N'Djamena, the IRC's Adapoe said. But such armed groups are not present in all refugee camps in eastern Chad. Spanish-based aid group Oxfam-Intermon, which works in the camps at Goz Beida and KouKou Angarana (700km and 800km from N'Djamena), says it has not detected JEM or any other armed group there lately, although some ex-rebels in the area are turning to banditry.
Why has the U.N. force been unable to prevent all this?
The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (Minucart) does not operate in the Bahay area where the Oure Cassoni camp is. It only sends teams there on an ad hoc basis as it has too few troops, a spokesman said. The force expects to have 5,200 troops but only has 2,800, three hundred of whom are in the Central African Republic. "Another problem with Bahay is that there is no water.
Such harsh and severe conditions make it difficult for the for troop-providing countries to agree to send troops to be deployed there," he said. At Oure Cassoni, aid agencies like the IRC draw water from a shrinking lake and, in the dry season when the lake and nearby wadis [rivers] dry up, providing water for the refugees alone is incredibly difficult. Camp security is maintained by the U.N.- trained and equipped Integrated Security Detachment (DIS), made up of 850 Chadian policemen and gendarmes who are mentored by other U.N. police officers deployed to the area.
Minucart says this community police force cannot yet fully impose itself over armed rebels. Meanwhile, Minucart patrols most of the southern parts of eastern Chad and escorts humanitarian convoys if they ask for protection.
How safe is eastern Chad?
The biggest security threat is banditry with weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, Minurcat says. From January to March alone, there were 42 incidents against humanitarian workers, Adapoe said, including assaults, break-ins, robbery and car-jacking.
"Insecurity is drastically impeding the day-to-day efforts of agencies trying to deliver emergency relief," he said. As a result, agency staff can often only travel to and from camps with armed escorts and for Oure Cassoni these are only available between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Repeated Chadian rebel incursions have left the civilian state apparatus in that part of the country barely existing, with a weak judicial system that leads to impunity, U.N. agencies say. Agencies worry that rebels who attacked Chadian government forces in May might strike again after the summer rains which constrain their movements, says Oxfam-Intermon.
Who are the main armed groups in Chad?
Various armed groups have been active, particularly in the east. These include Chadian rebel groups, various Sudanese pro- or anti-government militia, and bandits who are often disaffected members of these movements. One major Chadian rebel movement operating in the area is the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), formed when eight rebel groups united in January.
They were responsible for the May attack against the Chadian government. Their leader is Timan Erdimi, President Idriss Deby's nephew. Timane and his brother Tom earlier led the Assembly of Forces of Change (RFC) that led a failed coup in 2004. They, like Deby, come from the Zaghawa tribe, which makes the backbone of the Darfur rebellion in Sudan. JEM is one such Zaghawa-dominated Sudanese rebel group. It has been fighting the Khartoum government since 2003. The Sudanese believe it is supported by Chad but the Chadian government has always denied it is.
Over the past four years, other Chadian groups that have staged attacks from the east of the country include the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), headed by Deby's former Defence Minister Mahamat Nouri, a charismatic leader from Chad's black Gorane ethnic group. There have also been cross-border raids by the Janjaweed, Arab militiamen supported by the Sudan government. But a U.N. official said they have become less frequent with the deployment of a European Union Force in the Central African Republic and Chad, and now Minucart.
Have any aid agencies pulled out as a result of insecurity?
The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance says the only relief organisation to have left Chad due to insecurity is Save the Children, after its country director Pascal Marlinge was killed in May last year by an unidentified gunman.
Aid workers in Chad have complained to local authorities that armed groups are present in refugee camps, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has told AlertNet. U.N. officials say they are aware that armed groups have been entering camps in the northeast and have raised the issue with Chadian authorities, although they did not say which groups were involved.
The local administrative officer of Amdjaras, the main town near Oure Cassoni - a big refugee camp - promised aid workers last week he would look into the issue, the IRC country director, Philippe Adapoe, said on Thursday. Over 250,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region live in camps in eastern Chad, some of which are in an isolated desert near the border where Darfur and Chadian rebels often roam. Here are some questions and answers on security for humanitarian workers and refugees.
What are the concerns of aid workers?
Their main concern is a lack of respect for the civilian nature of refugee camps by guerrillas. "They enter the camps with their guns and they ignore DIS (the U.N.-trained police) and ignore instructions to leave their guns at the entrance to the camps," a humanitarian worker, who declined to be named, told AlertNet. A U.N. official said the presence of belligerents risked turning a camp into a target, endangering refugees and aid workers.
There was also the risk that aid meant for refugees would end up going to an armed group. Relief agencies also say armed groups recruit in the camps, even enlisting children, and some groups regularly rape refugee women and girls when they go out in search of firewood and water.
Which refugee camps are concerned?
A BBC reporter and staff from some humanitarian organisations say they have seen fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) from neighbouring Sudan in a camp in the Bahay area, by the border with Sudan in the north-east of Chad.
JEM rebels "come in and out" of Oure Cassoni camp, 1,000 km (600 miles) from the capital N'Djamena, the IRC's Adapoe said. But such armed groups are not present in all refugee camps in eastern Chad. Spanish-based aid group Oxfam-Intermon, which works in the camps at Goz Beida and KouKou Angarana (700km and 800km from N'Djamena), says it has not detected JEM or any other armed group there lately, although some ex-rebels in the area are turning to banditry.
Why has the U.N. force been unable to prevent all this?
The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (Minucart) does not operate in the Bahay area where the Oure Cassoni camp is. It only sends teams there on an ad hoc basis as it has too few troops, a spokesman said. The force expects to have 5,200 troops but only has 2,800, three hundred of whom are in the Central African Republic. "Another problem with Bahay is that there is no water.
Such harsh and severe conditions make it difficult for the for troop-providing countries to agree to send troops to be deployed there," he said. At Oure Cassoni, aid agencies like the IRC draw water from a shrinking lake and, in the dry season when the lake and nearby wadis [rivers] dry up, providing water for the refugees alone is incredibly difficult. Camp security is maintained by the U.N.- trained and equipped Integrated Security Detachment (DIS), made up of 850 Chadian policemen and gendarmes who are mentored by other U.N. police officers deployed to the area.
Minucart says this community police force cannot yet fully impose itself over armed rebels. Meanwhile, Minucart patrols most of the southern parts of eastern Chad and escorts humanitarian convoys if they ask for protection.
How safe is eastern Chad?
The biggest security threat is banditry with weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, Minurcat says. From January to March alone, there were 42 incidents against humanitarian workers, Adapoe said, including assaults, break-ins, robbery and car-jacking.
"Insecurity is drastically impeding the day-to-day efforts of agencies trying to deliver emergency relief," he said. As a result, agency staff can often only travel to and from camps with armed escorts and for Oure Cassoni these are only available between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Repeated Chadian rebel incursions have left the civilian state apparatus in that part of the country barely existing, with a weak judicial system that leads to impunity, U.N. agencies say. Agencies worry that rebels who attacked Chadian government forces in May might strike again after the summer rains which constrain their movements, says Oxfam-Intermon.
Who are the main armed groups in Chad?
Various armed groups have been active, particularly in the east. These include Chadian rebel groups, various Sudanese pro- or anti-government militia, and bandits who are often disaffected members of these movements. One major Chadian rebel movement operating in the area is the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), formed when eight rebel groups united in January.
They were responsible for the May attack against the Chadian government. Their leader is Timan Erdimi, President Idriss Deby's nephew. Timane and his brother Tom earlier led the Assembly of Forces of Change (RFC) that led a failed coup in 2004. They, like Deby, come from the Zaghawa tribe, which makes the backbone of the Darfur rebellion in Sudan. JEM is one such Zaghawa-dominated Sudanese rebel group. It has been fighting the Khartoum government since 2003. The Sudanese believe it is supported by Chad but the Chadian government has always denied it is.
Over the past four years, other Chadian groups that have staged attacks from the east of the country include the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), headed by Deby's former Defence Minister Mahamat Nouri, a charismatic leader from Chad's black Gorane ethnic group. There have also been cross-border raids by the Janjaweed, Arab militiamen supported by the Sudan government. But a U.N. official said they have become less frequent with the deployment of a European Union Force in the Central African Republic and Chad, and now Minucart.
Have any aid agencies pulled out as a result of insecurity?
The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance says the only relief organisation to have left Chad due to insecurity is Save the Children, after its country director Pascal Marlinge was killed in May last year by an unidentified gunman.
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