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17 November 2006 |
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| © Alexandre Dupeyron - caring
for victims of violence |
MSF is concerned about the fate of
5,000 displaced Chadians who fled an attack on the Koloye site, in the
eastern part of the country, and have disappeared in the area even as
violence expands in the region. That number included 37 MSF employees.
We had no information about them. We have since learned that some of
displaced persons fled to Adé and Kumu, two villages further north,
accompanied by the populations of neighboring villages. We still have
no information on 4 of the 37 members of our team. Interview with Filipe
Ribeiro, the French section’s head of mission in Chad.
What happened in the village of Koloye last week?
On Thursday, some members of our Dogdoré team went to Koloye
to provide medical aid to the displaced persons. We have not had a fixed
presence at that site since October 25, because we had to evacuate for
security reasons. However, a local team continued to manage the drinking
water distribution network that we had set up. Along the road, our team
observed that 20-30 kilometers before reaching Koloye, the villages had
been partially burned and residents had abandoned the sites. As they
came closer to Koloye, they saw shoes, teapots and gourds abandoned,
hastily, along the side of the road, signaling the populations’ flight.
When they reached Koloye, they saw that all the tukuls–the dwellings—in
the village had been burned. MSF’s clinic was looted and we found
bloody compresses at the clinic, a sign that people had been wounded
in the fighting. The pharmacy was destroyed. The tents and water tanks
had disappeared or were destroyed. The drugs and supplies were gone.
They met only two women at the site who had come to collect a few belongings.
The 5,000 displaced persons had completely disappeared. That number included
37 members of our local team. We were particularly worried because insecurity
was worsening and spreading in the region. These populations--who had
been displaced several months ago and had found tentative refuge in Koloye—thus
had to flee again, driven away by violence. The two women also told us
that the assailants had threatened them and that no one—including
MSF--was to return to Koloye.
Since that time, we have obtained information about some of the displaced
persons and 33 of our employees.
Thirty-three people--members of our team—managed to flee to Adé,
Kumu and Dogdoré. One wounded person is currently being treated
in Adé and is awaiting evacuation. We still have no information
regarding four people out of our 37 employees. Furthermore, we also learned
that a daily worker who had worked with us in Koloye had been killed.
We wanted to get to Adé as quickly as possible, but the growing
insecurity in the region prevented us from doing so. Our team in Goz
Baïda just managed to get there yesterday to conduct an initial
evaluation of the displaced persons’ situation.
What did they see in Adé?
Based on what we know at this point, there are 6,000 dispaced persons
in Adé, but we cannot say how many have come from Koloye. Apparently,
residents of other villages, including Faradjani, Marmadengue and Kerwajb,
which were also burned by the attackers, joined the Koloye residents
in their flight. They have set up on a huge field with a few trees, behind
the market. The families are gathered by village. They cut the grass
and set up shelters with screens and no roofs. Most of them are without
blankets or mats. Some have cooking utensils. Few had time to gather
any belongings before fleeing.
Ten patients—primarily women and children—were waiting at
the health center. We also returned to the clinic we had set up last
spring, where there are 12 lightly-wounded patients from the Koloye attack.
One requires an emergency transfer. These centers have some supplies—compresses
and bandages—but few drugs. We are going to resupply the health
center with medicine and ensure that the populations will have access
to food.
Do these attacks signal a change in the situation in eastern
Chad?
Since December 2005, eastern Chad has been the scene of confrontations
between the government army and Chadian rebels. In addition to this violent
conflict, armed men have conducted incursions. Many people have been
wounded and thousands living in villages close to the border have been
forced onto the roads. Several waves of displaced persons have gathered
in the towns in the interior of the country, like Koloye and Dogdoré,
where we have been providing medical assistance, drinking water and survival
supplies since December. Other MSF teams are also aiding the displaced
persons in Borota, Gurgur, and, more recently, in Kerfi.
We are currently witnessing an increase in the attacks and looting of
villages throughout the Dar Sila department. For example, the displaced
persons from Koloye had already been driven from their villages by violence.
They had to flee again and are living, once more, in a precarious situation
as the violence extends its reach in the region.
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