CHAD: Refugees in eastern Chad brace for another attack as Chad readies forces to strike rebels in Sudan

Record ID: 345624

  • Title: CHAD: Refugees in eastern Chad brace for another attack as Chad readies forces to strike rebels in Sudan
  • Date: 20th May 2009
  • Summary: GOUROUNGOU INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE'S SITE, SILA REGION, EASTERN CHAD (MAY 18, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WOMEN QUEUING FOR WATER CONTAINERS, SOAP AND BUCKETS, WITH PLASTIC CONTAINERS IN FOREGROUND HUMANITARIAN EMPLOYEE CALLING NAMES OUT OF A LIST VARIOUS OF WOMEN MOVING YELLOW CONTAINERS (SOUNDBITE) (Chadian Arabic) INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON, FATIME ABDEL KARIM, SAYING: ''Our men are leaving the site to join the army and get killed like that. And this time, they've killed three of ours.'' VARIOUS OF WOMEN WAITING IN A QUEUE (SOUNDBITE) (Chadian Arabic) INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON, HACHTA MAHAMAT DAOUD, SAYING: ''My brother was killed by the rebels who are fighting now. They came from Sudan to fight and they killed him.'' VARIOUS OF WOMEN GOING BACK HOME CARRYING JERRYCANS ON TOP OF THEIR HEADS MOVING SHOT FROM OXFAM CAR DRIVING THROUGH IDP SITE VARIOUS OF SITE SCENE WITH CATTLE OXFAM CAR PASSING WITH MAN ON DONKEY IN FOREGROUND MEN WALKING OXFAM PEOPLE WATCHING MEN DIGGING WELL (SOUNDBITE) (English) JESSICA SAULLE, OXFAM GB EMERGENCY FOOD SECURITY AND LIVELIHOODS COORDINATOR, SAYING: ''So working in Chad you expect these kind of events such as the last attack to happen, we are prepared for it and we adjust. During the last events we maintained the essential services, we maintain the water running in the IDP sites and now that the security conditions are a bit better, we resume activities, we resume sanitation efforts, livelihood and food security for Oxfam, and others actors also resume activities. It's fine - until the next event we are fine.'' WOMEN IN LINE WALKING SHOT FROM MOVING CAR OF SOLDIERS IN PICKUP SEIZED FROM THE REBELS DRIVING FAST IN BUSH StoryChad is readying its armed forces to enter Sudan
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chad
  • Country: Chad
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA5JUQ9VYTZ48TK3WAN11768YBX
  • Story Text: Refugees and humanitarian agencies brace for another attack as Chad readies its armed forces to enter Sudan "in the coming hours" to intercept what it said was a planned new rebel assault around its eastern border.
    Chad is readying its armed forces to enter Sudan "in the coming hours" to intercept what it said was a planned new rebel assault around its eastern border, its interim defence minister said on Tuesday (May 19).
    Tensions between the two oil-producing neighbours have escalated in recent days, with Chad on Sunday confirming its air force had carried out cross-border raids on what it called Sudanese-backed rebels.
    Frequent clashes between the Chadian army and Sudanese rebels have prompted many local people to run and hide in the bush or shelter in makeshift camps for displaced people.
    Fatime Abdel Karim, a 16 year old girl from the Gouroungou IDP camp in the Sila region on Chad's eastern border has lost her father, her uncle and her cousin during the clashes between rebels and the Chadian army only two weeks ago.
    ''Our men are leaving the site to join the army and get killed like that. And this time, they'have killed three of ours,'' Abdel Karim said as she was queuing for soap and plastic water containers at the IDP site.
    Hachta Mahamat Daoud, a 15 year old from the same camp lost her father who was in the army during the clashes of 2003. Now she lost her brother too, during the latest attacks.
    ''My brother was killed by the rebels who are fighting now. They came from Sudan to fight and they killed him,'' said 15 year old Hachta Mahamat Daoud, from the same IDP site.
    More than 250,000 refugees from Sudan shelter on Chad's eastern border, and the Chadians displaced by fighting only add to the pressure on humanitarian agencies working on the ground.
    ''Working in Chad you expect this kind of events such as the last attack to happen, we are prepared for it and we adjust. During the last events we maintained the essentials services, we maintain the water running in the IDP sites and now that the security conditions are a bit better, we resume activities, we resume sanitation efforts, livelihood and food security for Oxfam, and others actors also resume activities. It's fine - until the next event we are fine,'' said Oxfam GB Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods Coordinator, Jessica Saulle.
    Sudan called last week's bombing raids on its territory an "act of war". Chad said the raids had destroyed seven groups of fighters and that its ground forces had captured 100 prisoners on the border.
    Chad and Sudan have long traded accusations of backing each others rebels, which have waged simmering rebellions in the remote shared border region.
    Most of the fighting has not spread from Sudan's Western Darfur region and Chad's east. But last year rebel offensives reached both countries' capitals before being beaten back.
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