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| Africa Horn | |
| UN emergency chief tours famine-hit Chad | |
| 2010-05-24 | |
| N'DJAMENA - UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes travelled Sunday to eastern Chad where thousands of refugees are among those threatened by food shortages facing two million people in the country. Holmes arrived in the capital N'Djamena on Saturday before heading out to the east, where there are around 450,000 refugees from Sudan and displaced Chadians, many of them living in camps. The aim of the trip is to evaluate the humanitarian situation and call for a better response to the food crisis, the UN said in a statement. Holmes, also the UN's Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, would also travel to the western region of Kanem, another area affected by the food crisis, it said. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in early May that two million people, or 18 percent of the population, face high to very high levels of food insecurity in Chad mainly because of the drought. UN agencies have also warned that the planned departure of international peacekeepers from Chad could leave a security vacuum in the east, where humanitarian workers face constant attacks by bandits. N'Djamena and the UN have reached a deal which would see the withdrawal of 1,400 peacekeepers by July 15, with the remaining 1,900 to commence their withdrawal from October 15. The UN Security Council is due to make a decision on the deal next week. Chadian President Idriss Deby has criticised the UN mission in Chad as “a failure', accusing troops of remaining behind the safety of their razorwire fences and not venturing out to help refugees.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 I wonder that he had for lunch? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-05-24 02:46 |