More than a week of heavy fighting between government forces and rebels in eastern Chad is threatening refugees from Darfur, with aid workers unable to visit camps, the United Nations said Tuesday, according to DPA. Fierce clashes erupted 10 days ago between rebel groups and the government near the Sudanese border ahead of the expected deployment of 4,000 European peacekeepers. "In Chad, you never know what's coming next and you don't know where to expect the next combat to take place," said Annette Rehrl, spokeswoman for the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) in Abeche, eastern Chad. "There is limited access to camps and sites whenever fighting is going on. It's too dangerous to move on the roads. Our staff have been grounded for the past 10 days," she said. UNHCR said civilians were not directly involved in the battles, which has seen hundreds killed, according to reports from both sides, but "they live in fear that the already volatile situation may worsen." The world body and its partners assist some 240,000 Darfuri refugees who have poured over the border, fleeing conflict in their embattled home region. Another 180,000 people living in the region's camps are internally displaced Chadians. The fresh fighting shattered a month-long Libya-brokered ceasefire between the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development and the Rally of Forces for Change rebel groups and the government, led by President Idriss Deby.
