From MISNAMay 22, 2009
The humanitarian situation is ‘under control’ in the area of Goz Beida, 10 days
after the end of the fighting at the Sudanese border between the Chadian army
and the UFR rebellion, which is said to have been defeated, as reported by the
UN Humanitarian Coordination Office (OCHA) describing the situation in eastern
Chad. OCHA said that aid workers, after having been evacuated with the help of
the UN mission in the Central African Rep. (MINURCAT), have gradually started to
return to the area marked by the fighting, especially Koukou.
A minimum of aid workers and sufficient supplies are necessary – said OCHA – in
order to address the basic needs of the population, even if the context is not
secure, seeing the growing number of ambushes, some deadly as in the case of Goz
Amer. Because of unexploded mines and shells, in the area of the fighting, there
are also munitions cleanup campaigns.
As for the subject of health the International Red Cross is trying to improve
the ability of some hospitals to handle the wounded and people needing care. The
extent of child poverty is of great concern: two months away from the next
harvest, cases of acute malnutrition have increased significantly, hitting
mostly children living in refugee camps, especially in nutritional centers
managed by medicines sans frontieres (Msf) in Adé and Kerfi.
The WFP has recently spoken about the problems of schools, which need at least
88,000 meals a day, even though the fighting has kept students away from the
classrooms in the past few weeks. The Un Committee Against Torture (CAT) has
also expressed fear over the situation in eastern Chad, denouncing “sexual
violence against women and children and vast scale torture” perpetrated in the
refugee camps that house some 450,000 people, including refugees from Sudan and
the Central African Rep.
CAT adds that “in total impunity, militias, groups and armed forces” perpetrate
violence that then gives way to “solutions negotiated by village leaders in the
form of indemnity, preventing, in effect, any legal measures from being carried
out towards the guilty parties”; CAT asked Chadian authorities about such
violations asking it to set up “information campaigns” to encourage the victims
to formally denounce them.