Military

9 January – Newly arrived Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad report that marauding Arab militia groups continue to kill, burn, loot and empty entire villages in the Darfur region of western Sudan in a conflict that has sent some 95,000 people fleeing across the border since early last year, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

Those who escaped said women and girls were being raped and kidnapped by the militia, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) added. The reports could not be confirmed because humanitarian agencies are not allowed in Darfur, while the refugee women themselves have trouble communicating, especially on the taboo subject of rape.

The agency said hundreds of thousands of other Sudanese are believed to be displaced inside Darfur. The shift is only the latest in 20 years of civil conflicts that have uprooted more than 4 million people in Africa's largest country, and driven another 570,000 into neighbouring States. But some hope is emerging as the Government and rebels in southern Sudan work to hammer out a peace agreement.

A UNHCR emergency team in the north-east Chad region of Birak yesterday visited Djoran, one of many makeshift refugee sites along the insecure border between the two countries. Recent arrivals from western Sudan interviewed by the team all gave similarly harrowing accounts of their flight.

They said militia men, known as the Janjaweed, attack villages, shooting people caught in the streets. Starting their attacks early in the morning, the militia raided village houses, stealing everything, including livestock, according to the refugees.

One man from the Sudanese village of Garuma said that a week ago, about 150 militiamen arrived on horses and camels, forcing him to flee with his pregnant wife and their five children to the surrounding hills, where his wife gave birth the following day. The militia set a bush fire in the area, forcing the family to escape to another hill. The man, who fled on a donkey, said his wife and children were still hiding in Sudan while he checked on conditions in Djoran.

Another refugee reported escaping with her five children after the militia attacked Garuma and killed her father in his hut. The attacks took the lives of several men and sent others fleeing into nearby hills with their livestock.

Some 30,000 refugees fled into Chad from Darfur in December alone. On Wednesday, UNHCR started distributing blankets provided by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to children, pregnant women and the elderly in Djoran.