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UN Deeply Concerned at Attacks on Refugee Camps

The United Nations today voiced deep concern at the recent intensification of fighting along Chad's eastern border with Sudan and the extension of the armed confrontations to the southern border with the Central African Republic (CAR), particularly after a large armed group entered a camp sheltering 17,700 Sudanese.

In a >http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=1986">statement issued by his spokesman, Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed that the increased violence is heightening political tensions in Chad and that its spillover effect is undermining international efforts to contribute to the stabilization of the situations in Sudan's western Darfur region and CAR.

In the most recent incident yesterday afternoon, an armed group entered the UN refugee agency (<"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home">UNHCR) Goz Amer camp, some 95 kilometres from the Sudanese border, during a food distribution to some 17,700 of the more than 200,000 Sudanese who have fled the vicious fighting in Darfur over the past three years.

"This action clearly frightened the refugees and is of deep concern to UNHCR and its partners," spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a <"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=443b7d844">news briefing in Geneva. "We are extremely concerned."

A group of 118 staff from various aid groups, including three from UNHCR, were unable to leave the camp, but by this morning the situation was reported to be calm and humanitarian workers who had spent the night inside the camp were able to leave.

In his statement, Mr. Annan also drew attention to the south where Chad is hosting thousands of CAR refugees who have fled growing insecurity due to a mixture of armed insurgency against the Government, military reprisals against northern CAR villages where the insurgents are thought to be hiding, and widespread banditry.

"He strongly condemns the attacks against refugee camps in southern Chad and stresses the need to respect the safety and dignity of refugees and internally displaced persons," the statement said.

Mr. Annan also firmly condemned the killing in northern CAR of two doctors on a UN-backed mission to deliver vital medical assistance to thousands of civilians trapped by the worsening violence in that part of the country.

"He calls on the authorities for swift action to bring those responsible for the killings to justice," the statement concluded.

In recent weeks UNHCR has expressed growing concern as clashes have spread along the Sudanese-Chadian border. "We are watching the situation very closely," Ms. Pagonis said. High Commissioner António Guterres has warned that the fighting poses a growing risk to civilians, the displaced and humanitarian workers.

Source: United Nations News Centre

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