PRESS CONFERENCE BY refugee office on sudan, chad

 

Breaking down the complex situation of refugees and internally displaced persons in Eastern Chad and Darfur by number and region, officials from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today that their true situation was not just a question of numbers, but of the humanitarian situation behind the numbers.

Describing conditions in Chad, the UNHCR representative in that country, Serge Malé, stressed that, in providing statistics on refugees and internally displaced persons, it was important not to forget that behind the numbers more than 1,000 people had been violently killed and more than 100 villages had simply disappeared from the map.

At the moment, Chad consisted of three situations, he said.  With some 230,000 Darfuri refugees settled in 12 camps along the 700 kilometre border with the Sudan, one of those situations was directly linked to the problem in Darfur.  Refugees had started arriving in 2003, with the majority arriving in 2004.  For the time-being, UNHCR did not see a solution to their problem.  The situation in Darfur would need to be resolved in order for them to be able to return home.  That would not happen in the foreseeable future, however, and they would probably remain in Chad where they received the support of the Chadian Government, the people of Chad and the international community.

The second situation, which was more recent and was a spill over from the situation in Darfur, was the phenomenon of some 17,000 internally displaced persons within Chad, he said.  The increase in number since the fall of 2006 had been very significant, and UNHCR was trying to respond to their humanitarian needs. 

He added that, in eastern Chad, the main problem was the deteriorating security situation, with humanitarian workers being taken hostage and becoming victims of carjacking.  The capacity of Chad’s Government had proven limited, which was why it had asked the international community to support it with international deployment.  A major step had been taken in that regard in the last few weeks.  That was a very welcome development, which would help the secure the environment in eastern Chad, create the conditions for the internally displaced persons to return to their villages and for the entire population living in the area to feel much more confident.

Due to the regionalization of the situation, UNHCR was also dealing with some 45,000 Central African refugees in the southern part of Chad, he said.  They continued to arrive, and the situation there also required attention.  Given the uncertainty and the volatility of the security situation in Central African Republic, he did not see when they would be able to be repatriated. 

Turning to the situation in the Sudan, Chris Ache, UNHCR’s Representative in that country, said Sudan consisted of five distinct situations.  Indeed, Sudan was not just simply Darfur, but the South, the East, the West, and Khartoum.  Each had their own operations with importance for Sudan’s security and development.  In the South, the UNHCR was operating to support the peace process -– the Comprehensive Peace Agreement –- which requested that it repatriate and settle refugees and internally displaced persons.

In the East, the agreement signed last year, the East Sudan Peace Agreement, had ended the long war there, he said, adding that UNHCR now had access to some 130,000 refugees.  The camps had the minimum of support.  In Khartoum, UNHCR was supporting some two million internally displaced persons, who needed to return to the South in order to take part in the census, elections and, hopefully, the 2011.  In the east, of the some 2.1 million internally displaced persons, UNHCR had access to some half a million of them in West Darfur.  “We are doing all we can under difficult conditions to support them”, he said.

Asked about reports of people going from Chad into deserted villages in Western Darfur and where there was an attempt by the Government in Khartoum to repopulate villages with Arabs, Mr. Ache said there was no proof that there was a “grand scheme” by the Government to move people into West Darfur.  UNHCR and other partners had, over the last two months, fielded some 24 missions to assess the various areas where they had settled and had concluded that they had fled form Chad because of insecurity.  Whether or not they constituted refugees was a different ballgame, however.  UNHCR had also concluded that they did not need support at the moment, as they had come with their cattle and household effects.  As nomads, they moved around all the time. 

Another issue was, however, the fact that they had settled in land that was allegedly owned by those in the internally displaced person camps in West Darfur, he said.  UNHCR had made clear, however, that if the Government wanted to grant status to them, it should be in a camp setting.  It had also stressed the point that none of the people should be armed.  The humanitarian character of the group must be sustained.

Responding to another question, he said those people did not want refugee status.  As nomads, they did not want to go to the camps, and would not stay where there was no land to raise their cattle.

How many refugees were going back and forth between the two countries and had they determined that Arab nomads had stakes in the area? a correspondent asked.

Responding, he said there had been two waves of arrivals into Sudan from Chad, including some 20,000 African Chadians.  UNHCR had access to some 4,500 refugees in two camps in West Darfur.  They had been there for almost a year, and he had not seen any in-and-out movement.  He could not confirm, however, the same for those settled in Bor areas and for whom they had no access or did not support.  He had not seen any cross-border movements.  The second wave, the nomads, had started in the beginning of the year.  He could not confirm whether they could claim that land, as they land they inhabited belonged to those in the internally displaced person camps in West Darfur.  He did not think that they could claim that land.  It was for the Government to determine who they were.  If they were considered refugees, they would tell the Government that they belonged in a camp setting, so that there would be no clashes if the internally displaced persons returned home.

Asked about attacks on aid workers, Mr. Malé said the humanitarian staff had been relocated twice in 2006.  The number of workers had been reduced, with a minimum remaining.  UNHCR also developed a contingency plan with the refugees themselves.  Such a situation could not last more than a few weeks, however.

Aid workers had not been targeted because of their work, but because of their goods, he added.  Thanks to the resilience of the refugees themselves, as well as that of the workers, the humanitarian situation in the camps could be considered acceptable today, meeting minimally acceptable standards.  That had not been the case a few weeks ago for the internally displaced person Chadian population.  Once the deployment took place, however, the population would feel more secure and the region more stable. 

Regarding Darfur, Mr. Ache said they had not received any attacks against the two camps in Darfur.  They were pretty safe.  While there had been carjackings around the camps, the camp population had not been affected and such actions had not impeded UNHCR’s effective access and support to the two camps in Darfur. 

Asked about the size of the refugee camps, Mr. Malé said the camps ranged between 13,000 people in the smallest and 29,000 in the largest.  There were 12 camps, the oldest having been established in 2003 and the last in 2005.  The majority of the refugees had arrived in 2004.

In response to another question, Mr. Ache said it was up to Governments to grant refugee status. 

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For information media • not an official record