CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC-CHAD: 4,000 more Central Africans flee violence this month alone

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAKAR, 22 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Men, women and children from the Central African Republic are continuing to flee into Chad daily, with at least 4,000 pouring in so far this month to escape violence that refugees say has killed 50 people in February alone, and shows no signs of subsiding, the UN refugee agency said.

“Every day refugees are arriving in Chad,” a UNHCR official in the capital N’djamena told IRIN on Wednesday. The agency is racing to relocate the 200-odd daily arrivals from the border area to camps in southern Chad, UNHCR said in a 21 February statement.

Some refugees say CAR government soldiers are attacking civilians they suspect of being linked to rebel groups.

Refugees told UNHCR that at least 50 civilians have been killed in the violence since the beginning of February, the agency said.

New refugees recount daily random attacks by armed bandits and rebels, as well as government soldiers in northern CAR - a region long gripped by violence and lawlessness where regional governments months ago launched joint military operations in an effort to restore stability.

“Many refugees report that they fled attacks by government forces on civilians whom CAR troops suspected of supporting various rebel groups,” UNHCR said. Refugees also recounted village raids by rebel groups who loot cattle and food as well as “forcibly recruit young men.”

Parts of northern CAR have no permanent UN or international NGO presence because of lack of security in a country with a history of conflict and military coups.

While UNHCR is unable to verify the refugees’ accounts, the agency “takes them seriously given the number of similar reports we’ve heard from numerous refugees,” the UNHCR statement said.

The latest influx brings to about 15,000 the number of Central Africans seeking refuge in Chad since June 2005. They join some 30,000 people living in camps in southern Chad since fleeing unrest in CAR in 2003.

UNHCR is considering setting up a fourth camp in the area, as the three existing camps - one just opened in December - are nearly stretched to their limit.

But resources are also overburdened. The continuous flow of refugees is creating a considerable financial burden, spokesperson Ginette LeBreton told IRIN. “We are worried. This represents a serious constraint on our budget.”

UNHCR last month expressed concern about dwindling resources for its operations in Chad, where UN humanitarian agencies are also assisting more than 200,000 Sudanese refugees in the east.

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