UNHCR opens new camp for Sudanese refugees in Bahai

OURE CASSONI, Chad, July 13 (UNHCR) - A new camp has opened for Sudanese refugees now living in north-eastern Chad's Bahai town, where an estimated 15,000 people have arrived in recent months after fleeing attacks in Sudan's Darfur region.

On Monday, the UN refugee agency started relocating the first group of 258 refugees from Bahai to the new camp at Oure Cassoni. A second convoy left Bahai today and convoys to the new camp will continue on a daily basis.

Due to the availability of water in the area, Oure Cassoni, the ninth UNHCR camp in eastern Chad, is located 20 km away from the border instead of the preferred 50 km as used for the other camps. Three trucks are bringing in water from the nearby lake at first. In the longer term, the refugees will be able to get water from six wells, four of which are already under construction.

In all, UNHCR's nine camps now host more than 123,000 out of an estimated 170,000 Sudanese refugees who fled into Chad starting early last year.

Another group of nearly 7,000 refugees have gathered on their own at the Am Nabak site in north-eastern Chad. UNHCR and its partners have been distributing aid and offering to relocate the refugees to an inland camp. More than 4,900 have been registered so far.

Meanwhile, relief items continue arriving in Chad. Today marked the first of four flights from Denmark that will bring in nearly 180 metric tons of blankets, jerry cans, plastic sheeting, kitchen sets and prefabricated warehouses. The airlift of tents from Pakistan also continues with the 11th flight scheduled to arrive today in Chad's capital N'Djamena. Another Il-76 airplane with 42,000 hurricane lanterns arrived from Dubai yesterday.