CHAD: FRANCE FLIES IN PLANELOAD OF UNITED NATIONS AID FOR REFUGEES FLEEING CRISIS-STRICKEN DARFUR REGION OF SUDAN

Record ID: 337959

  • Title: CHAD: FRANCE FLIES IN PLANELOAD OF UNITED NATIONS AID FOR REFUGEES FLEEING CRISIS-STRICKEN DARFUR REGION OF SUDAN
  • Date: 1st August 2004
  • Summary: (W6) ABECHE, CHAD (JULY 31, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV FRENCH PLANE CARRYING UNITED NATIONS (U.N.) AID FOR SUDANESE REFUGEES TAXIING ON TARMAC AFTER ARRIVAL 0.07 2. SCU/MV FRENCH SOLDIERS WATCHING PLANE 0.15 3. SLV U.N. AID BEING UNLOADED FROM PLANE/CLOSEUP AID; FRENCH SOLDIERS WATCHING; FRENCH SOLDIER DRIVING FORKLIFT; FRENCH SOLDIERS HELPING TO UNLOAD AID (7 SHOTS) 0.42 4. SOUNDBITE (English) CRAIG SANDERS, CO-ORDINATOR OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS IN EASTERN CHAD FOR THE UNITED NATIONS REFUGEE AGENCY (UNHCR), SAYING: "This has saved us easily, I would say, between two to three weeks of travel time overland through the desert. So this has gained us two to three weeks of valuable time." 0.58 5. SLV U.N. AID PILED ON TARMAC; SLV FRENCH SOLDIERS HELPING TO LOAD AID INTO U.N. TRUCK; SLV FRENCH SOLDIERS LIFTING ANOTHER BUNDLE OF AID INTO U.N. TRUCK 1.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ABECHE, CHAD
  • Country: Chad
  • Reuters ID: LVAZMORAHSZF769M6XEJ8YV43R9
  • Story Text: France flies planeload of U.N. aid into eastern Chad
    for refugees fleeing crisis-stricken Darfur region of Sudan.

    France on Saturday (July 31, 2004) flew a planeload of
    United Nations aid into eastern Chad where French soldiers
    prepared to deploy from their base in Abeche towards the
    border with Sudan's Darfur region.

    French troops in fatigues loaded metal containers and
    cardboard boxes containing radio equipment and humanitarian
    supplies onto two white United Nations trucks parked in
    Abeche under a baking sun and clear blue skies.

    Jean-Pierre Bercot, France's ambassador to Chad, told a
    news conference in the capital N'Djamena that 200 soldiers
    would deploy to the frontier with Sudan to help the aid
    effort and watch out for incursions from Darfur by Arab
    militias, known as the Janjaweed.

    Some 180,000 people have fled fighting in Darfur and a
    million more are displaced inside western Sudan. Aid groups
    estimate as many as 450,000 are within 100 km (60 miles) of
    the border to Chad and could easily end up there.

    The U.N. Security Council voted on Friday (July 30) for
    a resolution threatening to clamp sanctions on Sudan in 30
    days if it does not disarm and prosecute the marauding
    militia in Darfur.

    Sudan rejected the move as "misguided".

    Darfur rebels accuse the government of arming the
    Janjaweed to loot and burn African villages. Sudan denies
    this and says it is improving security and distribution.

    Major Patrick Ponzoni, commander of the base in Abeche
    where some 150 French soldiers are stationed, said about 40
    would head off on a reconnaissance mission on Sunday to
    make contact with aid groups, local communities and
    refugees camped near Sudan.

    The French troops will also provide logistical help to
    an African Union observer team due to deploy in the area.

    The French flight on Saturday was the first of a series
    of rotations from the capital and comes just a day after
    President Jacques Chirac called on French soldiers
    stationed in their former central African colony to
    mobilise.

    Aid workers in Abeche, who are fighting to get supplies
    out to the camps down bumpy, dirt roads, often made
    impassable by flooded riverbeds, were grateful for the
    French help.

    "This has saved us easily, I would say, between two to
    three weeks of travel time overland through the desert,"
    said Craig Sanders, co-ordinator of emergency operations in
    eastern Chad for the United Nation's refugee agency
    (UNHCR).

    "This has gained us two to three weeks of valuable
    time," he told Reuters.

    However some aid workers in the town said it was
    frustrating that France, with a military base on their
    doorstep, had not provided more logistical support earlier
    in the crisis.


    os/awa

  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register