Aid groups in Chad brace for refugees from Darfur

Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:54pm EDT

* Aid agencies in Chad brace for possible influx

* Fears grow after Sudan expels aid groups



By Emma Batha

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Aid agencies in Chad are preparing for a possible influx of tens of thousands of refugees from Darfur as fears grow that Sudan's expulsion of major relief organisations will worsen the humanitarian crisis there.

Some aid workers in Chad said agencies were making contingency plans for up to 100,000 new arrivals from the western Sudanese region. But they stressed it was too early to tell if there would be a major exodus.

Sudan kicked out 13 international aid agencies last week after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur.

Aid workers fear the move could prompt refugees to cross into Chad as food, water and medical supplies dwindle. They also say people could move if insecurity worsens now that the relief groups have left.

"It's really speculative to even guess how many might come at this point," one aid worker in Chad said. "We are looking at what may happen -- we're looking at 50,000 to 100,000 -- but I don't think it will happen for a couple of months unless insecurity increases."

Aid workers said people wanting to move would do so by June or July when the rainy season makes the border hard to cross.

"If the humanitarian situation deteriorates, and I think it will, people may take a decision to move before the rainy season -- you might get 10,000 or 20,000 who come over at a time," the aid worker said on condition of anonymity.

The expelled agencies carried out about half of all relief work in Darfur, where 4.7 million people receive aid. They say their presence also acted as a deterrent to the warring parties and some fear their departure could lead to worse violence.



VOLATILE REGION

U.N. agencies and relief groups are holding talks in Chad on contingency plans. They currently run 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad, which shelter 250,000 Darfuris.

Aid agency CARE, one of the agencies expelled from Sudan, said it could take another 20,000 to 40,000 people in the three camps it manages.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which was also thrown out, said it was ready to scale up health care, water and sanitation services in Chad if there were new arrivals.

IRC's regional director Kurt Tjossem said Sudan's expulsion of relief organisations had "decimated the international aid effort in Darfur".

"As life-saving services in some camps diminish, people may start searching for assistance elsewhere. The IRC is putting contingency plans in place in Chad as a precaution," he added.

The U.N. refugee agency said it already kept emergency supplies in Chad to cater for an extra 50,000 arrivals because the region is so volatile.

But even in a worst case scenario, aid workers do not expect people to arrive from the major camps in North and South Darfur because they are too far away.

The people most likely to cross into Chad are those in camps in West Darfur and others living near the border. There could also be an influx if there are security problems around West Darfur's capital El Geneina, which is close to the border. (Editing by Giles Elgood) (For more on humanitarian crises visit Reuters AlertNet www.alertnet.org/)

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