CHAD:Gunmen in eastern Chad have prevented the United Nations from moving newly arrived refugees from Sudan's Darfur region away from a volatile border area and into camps, the world body said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Chad's president, Idriss Deby, appointed a close ally as defence minister yesterday, hours after declaring a state of emergency. Mahamat Ali Abdallah Nassour, previously mines and energy minister, took joint control of military operations in Chad with Deby after armed forces chief of staff Gen Daoud Soumaine Khalil was killed in fighting outside N'Djamena on February 1st as the rebels advanced on the capital.
Deby decreed a state of emergency late on Thursday, giving the government exceptional powers for 15 days including travel restrictions, a midnight-to-dusk curfew and media censorship.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said armed men stopped a group of families from boarding its trucks in the Birak border area this week and other refugees due to be collected had moved away for fear of attacks by Sudanese militias.
"We are very disturbed that in eastern Chad on Tuesday our efforts to move traumatised, newly arrived refugees from west Darfur away from the volatile border to camps was blocked by the presence of unknown armed elements," UNHCR said in a statement.
"The situation is so serious that our representative in Chad is now at the border trying to find a solution to this problem, which is leaving the refugees extremely exposed and vulnerable."
Chad threatened on Monday to expel new refugees from Darfur, saying their presence was triggering insecurity, and it called on the international community to take them elsewhere.
Prime minister Nouradine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye said the influx of refugees into eastern Chad risked becoming a "bone of contention" with Sudan and, if the international community did not relocate them, Chad would.
Some reports suggested the armed groups threatening the refugees included Sudanese "Toro-boro" rebels who back Deby. Chad and Sudan accuse each other of backing rebels to undermine each other's governments.
UNHCR said there were some 8,000 newly arrived refugees from Darfur in Birak and nearby Korok, and roaming armed groups posed a threat to their security, underlining the urgency to deploy the European Union peacekeeping force (EUfor).
EUfor has a UN mandate to protect more than half a million Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadian civilians.
Chadian rebels who launched a lightning assault from the east on the capital N'Djamena two weeks ago have warned EU states not to contribute troops, saying the force will not be neutral because it is dominated by former colonial power France.
The rebels accused France, which is contributing more than half of the 3,700 EUfor soldiers, of using tanks and helicopters to help Deby beat off their assault. France says it helped resupply the Chadian army but denies direct involvement.
UN officials described desperate conditions for the mostly women and children arriving from Darfur. It said some had been raped, while children had become separated from families.
Many of the new arrivals had already been displaced within Darfur and were exhausted, keen to receive help as soon as they entered Chad even though aid agencies were trying to move them to two camps 50km (30 miles) from the border.
"It's extremely difficult to find water and food. The conditions are so difficult that, at the end of the day, I believe they will probably agree to be transferred further inland to a proper camp," said Serge Male, head of UNHCR in Chad.
UNHCR and its partners are already caring for almost one-quarter of a million Darfur refugees in 12 camps in eastern Chad, and Mr Male warned the two camps near Birak were overstretched.