Four more Chad camp leaders deny voluntary return to Darfur

Four more camp leaders from Goz Amir, Um Nabuk, Tolom, Berayjin in eastern Chad have confirmed to Radio Dabanga that there has not been any voluntary return to Darfur from their camps. Camp leader Ahmed of Goz Amir said there had been a steady increase of Darfuri refugees to the camp which is home to more than 27,000 people. The other camps number between 19,000 and 37,000 residents and were set up in 2004. The leaders all said that the claims that large numbers of people have repatriated to Darfur from Chad as implied by Jeffrey Gettleman’s article in the New York Times is ‘peddling government propaganda intended to promote the Doha peace agreement’. They all call for security to seriously established in Darfur by disarming militia that continue to terrorise citizens, sending those responsible for crimes in Darfur to the international criminal court, providing both individual and collective compensation and establishing comprehensive public services. Only then will Darfuri citizens seriously consider voluntary return.