Some 30,000 refugees have so far arrived in the western Sudanese
region of Darfur from neighboring Chad this year, Sudanese and UN
refugee agencies said Wednesday.
The Sudanese Commission of Refugees (COR) and the UN High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in a joint statement that
the 30,000 people had been given the refugee right.
Most of the refugees were Arab nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes,
but there were also some non-Arab tribes, said the joint
statement.
According to the statement, families interviewed by a joint
UNHCR and COR team said that they left Chad after armed men wearing
military uniforms entered their homes, searching for weapons,
accusing villagers of supporting and participating in militia
activities.
Searches often turned violent with looting, beatings, arrests,
murders and in some cases rapes committed by these groups, they
added.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)
