UNHCR - Chad/Sudan: Flight both ways; Central Africans moved away from border

Excerpt from a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond at the press briefing, on 3 March 2006, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva:

Population movements in both directions along the insecure Chad/Sudan border are continuing, with some 100-125 Sudanese refugees now arriving at Gaga camp in eastern Chad every day. On Tuesday, we reported that in a worrisome new development Chadians were also fleeing to Darfur because of insecurity in Chad. So now we've got refugees going in both directions in this increasingly volatile region. In eastern Chad, since January, a total of 3,600 new arrivals have been recorded at Gaga camp, with 1,500 arriving in February alone. UNHCR teams report that two-thirds of the new arrivals are from villages located on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border, around the Chadian town of Adre. The rest have travelled from camps for internally displaced people in western and southern Darfur.

March 3, 2006 UN News Centre report explains that Gaga camp, which has a capacity for 20,000 refugees, now has a population of 10,000. Some 200,000 refugees who have fled Darfur since 2003 live in 12 refugee sites in eastern Chad.



Oxfam Photo: A water distribution point in Gaga camp, Chad where Oxfam engineers built the water system.

See Oxfam Helps Set Up Gaga, a New Refugee Camp

Feb 3 2006 New Janjaweed attacks force more Darfuris into Chad camps