U.N. urges more aid for refugees in Chad« Thread Started on May 11, 2006, 12:33am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------U.N. urges more aid for refugees in ChadAid agencies seeking $180 million to feed the needyWednesday, May 10, 2006 Posted: 1824 GMT (0224 HKT) read source: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/afric ... mlGOROUKUM CAMP, Chad (Reuters) -- Aid agencies have received only a fraction of the funds needed to help a quarter of a million people displaced by conflict and living in camps in Chad, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief said on Wednesday. "Only 16 percent of the humanitarian funds required to feed these people has been met so far," Jan Egeland said during a visit to a refugee camp in eastern Chad. Aid agencies are seeking almost $180 million. "This crisis has somewhat fallen into the shadow of the dramatic events in neighbouring Darfur," Egeland said during a visit to Goroukum Camp, where 10,000 Chadians have fled. Some refugees said they were escaping from attacks by Arab militias that had crossed from the western Sudanese region of Darfur. "They, the janjaweed, came from Sudan and drove us out of our village," Ashtar Hussein told reporters. The Chadian army has redeployed its forces away from the border with Sudan to put down an insurgency. That has left the border unguarded and allowed the militias to cross into Chad. Attacks by the janjaweed [Arab militias] in Darfur, western Sudan, have contributed to the migration of 200,000 Sudanese into Chad. They were joined this year by 50,000 Chadians displaced by fighting between the Chadian government and rebels. Aid agencies want to move the displaced from Goroukum Camp, which is about 125 miles south of Abeche, because of a lack of drinking water and flooding in the rainy season. Youssef Ahmad, who walked five days to reach the straw shelters in the desert camp, said he would not leave. "All the areas around here are unsafe so we will not go anywhere, said Ahmad." Egeland said the security situation in eastern Chad was in "total chaos" as the long porous border between Sudan and Chad is crossed by many armed groups which loot villages in the area. The U.S. ambassador to Chad, Marc Wall, who was visiting the camp with Egeland, said security was fragile and could become very dangerous. "We see all the results here around us," Wall said. Chadian government troops launched a military offensive in eastern Chad in March against rebels opposed to President Idriss Deby. Chad has accused Sudan of sheltering the rebels in western Sudan, where Sudanese rebels have been fighting the Khartoum government in a separate conflict. Khartoum and the main Darfur rebel faction signed a peace deal last week to end 3 years of fighting that killed tens of thousands and forced 2 million from their homes into camps. The Sudanese government admits to arming some militias to quell the rebellion but denies links to j anjaweed militias accused of rape, murder and looting.