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Thousands More Flee From Darfur

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By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, The Associated Press

Published: February 11, 2008

GENEVA - Up to 12,000 refugees fled Sudan's Darfur region to neighboring Chad during the weekend after airstrikes by the Sudanese military.

The U.N. refugee agency said Sunday that thousands more refugees may be heading toward Chad.

The agency was bringing emergency assistance to the Chad border, where the Darfur refugees were giving detailed descriptions of air attacks Friday on three West Darfur towns.

The refugees are "destitute and terrified," said Helene Caux, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees headquartered in Geneva. "They told of their villages being looted and burned, and encircled by militia." Most of the new refugees in Chad are men and they told the U.N. that thousands of women and children are on their way, Caux added.

U.N. officials say the worsening situation in Darfur has been exacerbated by a recent rebel attack on the capital of Chad. Chad has accused Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of backing the rebels in a bid to prevent deployment of a European peacekeeping force in the Chad-Sudan border region, where about 400,000 refugees are living.

Sudanese helicopter gunships and fixed-wing aircraft bombed the towns of Sirba, Sileia and Abu Suruj on Friday in strikes it said were aimed at rebel forces.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday strongly condemned the attacks and demanded that all parties adhere to international humanitarian law, which prohibits military attacks on civilians.

The porous Chad-Sudan border may not be much safer than Darfur for the refugees.

Chad is still reeling from last week's fighting between rebels and government troops. The rebels, who accuse President Idriss Deby of corruption and embezzling millions in oil revenue, attacked the capital after advancing in trucks in a matter of days from their eastern bases near the Sudan border. They were repelled after bloody battles.

The displacement of tens of thousands of Chadians added to the already daunting challenge for humanitarian workers in the region. Some even fled across the Chad-Sudan border in the other direction.

"We don't know where all the armed groups are or where they are heading to, so the whole border is just very volatile and dangerous," Caux said. "The refugees are moving back and forth from one dangerous situation to another. ... It's completely surreal."

Caux said sleeping mats, blankets and other supplies will be sent to eastern Chad today. Officials will also travel to the Darfur border city of Gereida to offer immediate transportation to refugee camps within Chad, where the agency already cares for 240,000 Darfur refugees.

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