Chad: July 26, 2004

Archives

More Sudanese refugees are crossing the border into Chad. There may be as many as 200,000 refugees in Chad now, and many of them appear to be Sudanese rebels, or their families. The Sudanese rebels are, quite naturally, angry over the hundreds of villages that have been emptied by Arab Sudanese gunmen. The rebels see the refugee camps as part of a plot to let the Arab Sudanese keep the land they have stolen. As a result, Sudanese rebels in Chad have been attacking refugee camp workers, and this has brought in the Chadian army to restore order. Several Sudanese refugees have been killed in these skirmishes, and dozens arrested. The violence is not widespread, but it is growing, as more refugees move into Chad.