Turmoil in Darfur Spreads to Chad

"The chaos in Darfur, the war-ravaged region in Sudan where more than 200,000 civilians have been killed, has spread across the border into Chad, deepening one of the world's worst refugee crises."

At least 20,000 Chadians have become refugees. Their crops have been burned, their cattle have been stolen and now, they are being driven out of their homes. Those who try to protect their family and their property are killed.

The Chad government is also fighting against rebels based in Sudan, and looking to remove its president, Idriss Déby, from his position. President Déby has placed blame on the Sudan government for supporting the Chad rebels.

The United Nations agreed to send troops to help protect civilians from the crisis in the area, but said troops won't arrive for months.

"Sudan wants to export the war in Darfur to us here," General [Abakar Youssouf Mahamat] Itno said at his camp in the hills above Adré. "They want to use the janjaweed they armed to terrorize Darfur, to terrorize our population. We will not allow it."

Into is charged with "defending Chad's border and protecting refugees and civilians," but admits this order is not particularly easy to handle.

"It is a long border," he said. "We cannot be everywhere at once."

The Chad refugees are surviving in horrible conditions. They live in roofless shelters that offer little to no protection, and they are all runnning low on food and water. A moblie clinic run by Doctors Without Borders offers the only assistance, but only three times a week.

"We are in a very dangerous situation," [one refugee, Ibrahim Suleiman], Mahamat said. "What happens if there is a war in the country you are from and the country you have fled to? We are nowhere. There is nowhere for us to go."

source

I grew up living a very sheltered life. When I hear about turmoil in other countries, it overwhelms me. I've never experienced anything remotely comparable to what these people are forced to put up with, and I can hardly imagine how horrible it must be. What's worse, the article I've cited mainly discuesses problems in Chad, which are horrible, I admit, but are just partly spilled over from Darfur. Everything about this situation greatly overwhlems me and saddens me. And while I don't understand how military deployment works, it doesn't make sense to me that the troops sent by the UN will take months to arrive. I mean, they're not walkng to Chad. I wish instead of just reporting about these events, journalists might additionally offer us ways to help the situation. They did that for Katrina victims, why not for those suffering in Chad and Darfur? I think I may poke around this website to see what I can do.

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