GENEVA, Switzerland, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- United Nations humanitarian workers fear violence in Sudan's Darfur region could drive another 30,000 people over the border into neighboring Chad.
Such a move would swell already crowded refugee camps in Chad and strain the capacity of aid agencies to care for the new arrivals.
he Director of Operations in Sudan for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Jean-Marie Fakhouri, this week met hundreds of internally displaced people at a town in West Darfur who said they will flee to Chad as soon as the area's flooded riverbeds dry up unless they receive credible guarantees of their security.
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond, told reporters Friday at the agency's headquarters in Geneva, the IDPs said they are virtual prisoners inside the West Darfur town of Masteri because the notorious Janjaweed militias attack them as soon as they venture out.
As many as 30,000 IDPs have moved into the area around Masteri to escape Janjaweed attacks, as well as fighting between Sudanese Government forces and two Darfur rebel groups. The Janjaweed are accused of murdering civilians, burning homes and destroying cropland.
