A tree 'better than Sudan'
2004-07-08 09:43
Bahai, Chad - Mohammed Azene lies stretched out under a thorn tree in the Chad desert. His last belongings are the mat he sleeps on and a plastic pitcher suspended from a branch so he can do his ablutions before prayers.
Up to 15 000 Sudanese, chased from their homes in a systematic campaign of terror, are sheltering under the trees that surround this desert border town. The brittle branches offer little protection against the searing sun and frequent sand storms.
For more than 16 months, Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, backed by airplanes and helicopter gunships, have razed the villages of their black African farming neighbours in response to a rebellion in Sudan's western Darfur region. Up to 30 000 people have been killed and more than 1 million driven from their homes in co-ordinated attacks that human rights groups say amount to ethnic cleansing.
"The Janjaweed burn our homes, steel our cattle and kill anyone whose skin is black," said Azene. "We lost everything ... Those of us who weren't killed on the spot just ran."
Azene escaped with his three sons and one daughter. But his wife was visiting another daughter at the time of the attack and he has had no word of their fate.
Huddled under trees
The family walked eight days through the desert to reach Chad, where some 200 000 Sudanese are sheltering along a 600km border. Along the way, the few goats they were able to salvage collapsed from hunger and thirst.
Hundreds of animal carcasses were burned on huge smoking pyres after the refugees started arriving here in numbers in January.
The first international aid group followed in February, and the first food distribution took place on March 21. In the meantime, local residents pooled their resources to provide the refugees with a little millet, salt, soap, clothes and blankets.
But the only available shelter was soon overwhelmed by the tide of refugees who now outnumber the more than 10 000 residents.
On the edge of town, as far as the eye can see, refugees are now huddled under trees. Their few belongings - mats, pots, clothes and bundles of straw for their animals - hang from the branches.
"It is hot in the day and cold at night," said Aziza Bakhit, balancing her two-year-old daughter on her hip. "When the wind blows, you can't even tell men and women apart because of the sand."
Water the biggest problem
Nearby, a handful of skinny goats and donkeys nose in the sand in a futile search for food. The nearest fields are a five- to six-day journey through the desert and back.
Water is one of the biggest problems here. The few wells are almost dry and refugees spend hours scraping the last puddles from the bottom of the gaping pits.
The UN refugee agency is now trucking water to the refugees. From 06:00, women start setting their jerry cans by the side of the road - little more than a few tire tracks through the sand - to be sure not to miss out when the truck arrives in the afternoon.
To make ends meet, women collect bundles of straw and sell them at the market. But they are lucky if they earn 500 CFA francs (a dollar) a week.
Long-simmering tensions between nomadic Arab herders and their farming neighbours exploded into violence when two black African rebel groups took up arms against the Sudanese government in February 2003 over what they consider unfair treatment in their struggle over land and water resources in Darfur.
The rebel groups and refugees accuse the Sudanese government of backing the mostly Arab Janjaweed militias. The government denies the charge and has pledged to disarm the Janjaweed.
But for all the hardships, it will take a lot more than promises to convince the refugees in Chad to return home.
"Even under a tree, it is better here than in Sudan," Azene said. "We are safe here."
- AP