United Nations Radio

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the complexity of the conflict in eastern Chad is making it difficult for humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to internally displaced people and refugees. Patrick Maigua reports from Geneva.

ICRC deputy director of operations Dominik Stilhard, says the humanitarian situation in Chad remains precarious. Mr. Stilhard who has returned from a working tour of Chad, says although fighting between government forces and rebels has stopped, in eastern Chad the suffering of the civilian population is made worse by the fact that there is no government authority to prevent inter-communal fighting from taking place.

"The violence that continues to create most of the humanitarian consequences is not the non international armed conflict between the government of Chad and the rebel groups, but it is the conflict between indigenous communities living in eastern Chad and also partly across the border in Darfur. It is also this inter-communal violence that is the main primary reason for the displacement of over 150,000 people since 2005 in eastern Chad."

ICRC says the partial deployment of peace keepers in Chad and Sudan was yet to make any impact on the problem of insecurity in the affected regions. Patrick Maigua, UN Radio Geneva."

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