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Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Janet Lim visits a mother with her new-born baby in Djabal refugee camp.
UNHCR / A. Rehrl / January 2010

Refugees from Darfur call for improved educational facilities in eastern Chad camps

GOZ BEIDA, Chad, January 29 (UNHCR) – Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad told a senior UNHCR official this week that they need better educational facilities for their children, while Chadians displaced within their own country said they were worried about food shortages in the coming year.

The call came on Thursday when Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Janet Lim visited Djabal, one of 12 UNHCR-run camps in eastern Chad hosting some 250,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region. There are also some 166,000 internally displaced Chadian nationals in the east.

Refugee leaders in the camp, located near the town of Goz Beida, said facilities in Djabal's three primary schools urgently needed to be improved. They said that, due to a lack of funding, there were hardly any chairs and desks and most children had to sit on the floor. They also did not have enough stationery, textbooks and other materials to study with.

With their prospects of going back home soon looking remote, they also called for the establishment of secondary schools in camps across the east. There are currently only two secondary schools in the 12 camps.

Lim took their requests as a positive development. "Whenever refugees start to ask for better education, it means that all their other basic needs are well taken care of," she noted. UNHCR believes the improvement of educational facilities and opportunities in refugee camps can help prevent children and teenagers from being recruited by armed groups.

The Assistant High Commissioner also met a group of Chadians who had been displaced by fighting in 2006-2007 between government troops and rebel forces in the east and found shelter close to Djabal in a place called Gouroukun. They said they were worried about food shortages this year because of the poor harvest of crops such as millet and sorghum in 2009. They said continuing insecurity in the Chad-Sudan border region prevented them from returning home.

Lim, meanwhile, said the host communities in the east should not be forgotten. "We must make sure that the local community can benefit more from the assistance that is being provided to the refugees and, if necessary, we should be ready to encourage our development-oriented partners to engage in programmes covering the needs of host communities."

The Assistant High Commissioner, who is in Chad to review UNHCR's operations there, also visited Touloum refugee camp, where staff are registering some 26,000 refugees. The refugee agency completed verification exercises in 10 of the refugee camps last year and the information is being used to update databases and identify the most vulnerable refugees.

Lim praised UNHCR staff and partner organizations for their vital work in the country. "The Chad operation has the reputation of being among the most difficult and challenging ones worldwide. You are in the deep field and you are the point of delivery. I'm really impressed by what has been achieved so far," she said.

Lim is scheduled to travel to southern Chad on Saturday, where she will visit camps providing shelter for almost 70,000 refugees from the Central African Republic. She began her four-day visit on Wednesday in the Chad capital, N'Djamena, where she discussed UNHCR's plans to shift its operational footing in the east from an emergency mode to providing care and maintenance for Sudanese refugees who have arrived in Chad since 2003.

By Annette Rehrl in Goz Beida, Chad

A Congolese refugee prepares vegetables in the village where she has found shelter in Republic of the Congo.
UNHCR / B. B. Diallo / November 2009

UNHCR begins registration of more than 100,000 Congolese refugees

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo, January 18 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has begun registering more than 100,000 civilians who have fled ethnic conflict in north-west Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and found shelter in neighbouring Republic of the Congo in the past three months.

Some 107,000 Congolese from DRC's Equateur province have fled across the Oubangui River into the north-eastern ROC department of Likouala since ethnic Enyele militiamen launched deadly assaults in late October on ethnic Munzayas over fishing and farming rights in the Dongo area of Equateur.

The registration exercise kicked off Saturday in Likouala's Betou district, which is hosting more than 60 per cent of the refugees. The rest are scattered in the district of Impfondo, further south in Likouala. Some 1,000 people have been registered to date.

A UNHCR spokesperson said the registration was "designed to ascertain the number of refugees and to properly identify them. We will also be profiling refugee families to determine their specific needs and cater our assistance programmes accordingly."

A team of about 50 people, comprising UNHCR staff and local authorities, is carrying out the registration on a 500-kilometre-long stretch of territory along the Oubangui.

The operation, which took several weeks to prepare, is logistically challenging as the majority of the refugees are in areas that can only be reached by boat.

The water levels are receding and UNHCR is running against time to complete the registration before the dry season starts in March and rivers become too low for navigation.

Meanwhile, the refugee agency continues to deliver emergency assistance to the widely dispersed refugees. "So far we were able to ferry 161 metric tonnes of aid material for some 50,000 refugees. This aid includes blankets, plastic sheeting for shelter, kitchen sets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, which are being handed to the most vulnerable as a matter of priority," the UNHCR spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, in the Central African Republic, where another 18,000 refugees from Equateur province have sought safety, UNHCR teams conducted a registration exercise in late December and continue to register new arrivals trickling in from the Libenge area.

Back in Equateur province, UNHCR is taking part in an inter-agency humanitarian assessment mission to identify the needs of an estimated 90,000 internally displaced people affected by the ethnic violence and tensions.

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See the map at full size and quality on the History Files web site: www.historyfiles.co.uk

At the Chadian border town of Bettel, a UNHCR truck makes its way through floodwaters to transfer some 10,000 new arrivals from the Central African Republic to the Chad town of Gore.
UNHCR / C. Pryce / July 2005

islam in Central African Republic represent the 22% of the population

it is the second most important religion (after catholic church)

Greg Millar, from UNHCR Washington, found his two-week mission to see our operation in Chad the most memorable in his career.
(c) UNHCR

Impressions of UNHCR’s work in Chad.

WASHINGTON, USA, 1st December - Two weeks in Chad in early October became the most memorable experience in my 20 year fund-raising career.

Eastern Chad hosts 257,000 refugees from Darfur in 12 UNHCR camps along the Sudan border and 167,000 internally displaced people. There are 52,000 refugees from the Central African Republic in Southern Chad.

I joined a small group visiting Djabal and Gaga refugee camps in Eastern Chad and an IDP settlement in Goz Beida. We then traveled south and visited Gondje, Dosseye and Moundou camps.

I came away with some vivid memories. I met three teenage brothers whose parents had been killed in Darfur. One of the boys skillfully played a beautiful guitar-like instrument he had made and each talked about his life and the importance of education. Education is seen by so many as the main hope of some day being able to return and make a difference in the life and future of their country.

One young father soon to be resettled to the US spoke with such hope that one day his two daughters would use their upcoming US education to go back and make a positive difference in Africa.

Sport has an incredibly important part to play in the lives of children in the camps. It was only during the soccer and the basketball games that the group I was with almost became invisible as the children focused on the game they were either in, or playing.

There was the young father of two girls who talked sadly about the loss of his father and brother in Darfur, and it was painful to see his sadness and loneliness. On my final day in the South of Chad I met with a group of mothers who had only just arrived in the UNHCR camp, so many of them had fled after their husbands had been killed in the Central African Republic.

I share with you four brief observations.

UNHCR is at the forefront of the humanitarian efforts in Chad, effectively reaching parts of the country where very few other agencies have a presence.

Chad is a complex situation, with no simple protection formulas or durable solutions, yet UNHCR is clearly grappling with this and has developed some innovative and effective responses.

UNHCR staff live in incredibly difficult situations, in basic conditions, often extremely isolated and they work incredibly long hours.

I became increasingly aware, in the course of this brief mission, of the many millions of lives that have been saved and protected over the past 59 years thanks to the work of UNHCR. In visiting these camps, I was overwhelmed by the fact that although the number of displaced people can sometimes appear so vast, each is a very real person with his or her own story of both tragedy and hopes and dreams.
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Greg Millar, a senior regional officer for Public Sector Fund Raising based in Washington, contributed this article to the latest edition of Dispatches, a monthly news letter issued by the Washington office of UNHCR .

See Greg’s video from his mission on YouTube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2WHGm9U7Tc

AdaptÈes aux conflits modernes,les forces spÈciales constituent un outils flexibles et hautement qualifiÈs,ils peuvent intervenir ? tout moment sur une multitude de menaces aux contours mal dÈfinis,le commandement des opÈrations spÈciales (COS)employeur opÈrationnel des forces spÈciales recrute ces 2000 hommes au sein des trois armÈes.Ils utilises des materiels particuliers et des modes d'actions non conventionnels.



Commandos en rÈpublique Centrafricaine pendant l'operation Almandin

Two months ago welcomed Burgers Zoo (Arnhem, the Netherlands) a brand spanking new baby Western Lowland Gorilla.
Born on the night August 24th to three-time mom N’Gayla, the newborn appears to be doing well. The baby is a girl named: N'Washi.

De Arnhemse dierentuin Burgers' Zoo heeft er een kleine westelijke laaglandgorilla bij.
De geboorte van de baby in de nacht van maandag 24 op dinsdag 25 augustus was een soort cadeautje. Verzorgers kwamen 's morgens in het apenverblijf en zagen moeder N'Gayla opeens met haar jong in haar armen.
Het dierenpark wist wel dat de 16-jarige N’Gayla drachtig was, maar dacht dat het jong ergens in september of oktober ter wereld zou komen.
Voor moeder N'Gayla is het de derde nakomeling. N’Gayla mocht twee dagen na de geboorte met haar enkele decimeters grote gorillababy naar het buitenverblijf. Vader, zilverrug Bouwi, mocht ook mee, maar bleef op eerbiedige afstand van moeder en kind.
Het babyaapje, een meisje met de naam N'Washi, is helemaal gezond.
"Het drinkt goed, slaapt goed en is ook vaak wakker. Net als een gewone baby".
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All rights reserved. Copyright © Martien Uiterweerd. All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.
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Children from the Central African Republic, who were displaced by an attack on their village, attend class at a bush school near the Chadian border.
UNHCR / H. Caux

Due sorelle sono in fila per essere vaccinate contro il morbillo in un ospedale a Bossangoa. Si stima che almeno un quarto della popolazione della Repubblica Centrafricana è stata colpita dal conflitto interno.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1506/Holtz

Geoff Levey's Photos posted a photo:

Didier J. Rault with the President of Central African Republic

Women and children find shelter in a village in the Republic of Congo after fleeing from Equateur province.
UNHCR / B. B. Diallo / November 2009

Number of Congolese refugees in Republic of Congo passes 100,000 mark

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo, January 12 (UNHCR) – More than 100,000 Congolese refugees have now crossed the Oubangui River and found refugee in the Republic of the Congo since inter-ethnic violence erupted in Equateur province late last year.

UNHCR staff said there was an urgent need for formal camps to be set up to house the more than 107,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a further 17,000 refugees who have crossed into the Central African Republic, of whom at least 60 per cent are children.

The Congolese refugees in both countries fled from Equateur province in north-west DRC after Enyele militiamen launched deadly assaults in late October on ethnic Munzayas over fishing and farming rights in the Dongo area. The tensions have since spread to other parts of the province. The DRC army has launched an offensive against the Enyele militia.

"There is an acute need for formal refugee sites to be established in both CAR and ROC, as the majority of the DRC refugees occupy public buildings and spaces," a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency said. "This massive influx is severely stretching the meagre resources of this impoverished region, which could lead to tensions with the local community."

In the Central African Republic's Mougoumba region the refugees outnumber the locals by 200 to one, while the Likouala region of northern ROC has seen its population double to more than 200,000.

Although land has been allocated to accommodate 4,000 refugees in Republic of Congo, more space needs to be designated for refugee sites and this is being discussed with the governments of the two host countries. "Meanwhile UNHCR has sent emergency staff to support the widely dispersed refugee communities in this region," the spokesperson said.

Central African Republic. Central African Red Cross volunteers in Haut-Mbomou being familiarized with the principles of the Red Cross.

© ICRC / Ch.-V. Magendo / v-p-cf-e-00282 / www.icrc.org

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Market in Ndélé, Central African Republic

Ndélé, Central African Republic

Women at the hospital in Ndélé, Central African Republic

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