UNHCR representative visits refugee camps east Chad

A representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees visited Farashna camp in east Chad on Wednesday, 19 December, and met with camp leaders. Ibrahim Arbab Idriss, one of the camp’s sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that the representative of the UNHCR informed them that the budget for the Sudanese refugees in Chad for 2013 will be reduced with 25 percent, as there are many other places in the world that need UNHCR’s support. The sheikh added that refugees have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision and demanded the representative to provide them with certain basic needs such as food, education and health services. The chairman of the camp, Sheikh Adam Suleiman, demanded UNHCR to provide tents for shelter and protection of children, elderly and pregnant women to face the cold winter this year. He explained to Radio Dabanga that the extreme cold in east Chad these days has led to the emergence of infections and acute bronchitis among children, elderly and pregnant women, which reflects negatively on the lives of refugees in the camp.He appealed to UNHCR and donor agencies to intervene immediately and provide tents, plastic sheets as well as to build brick houses in the camp.File photo