Khartoum, February 12: Amnesty International said on Thursday that Chad should allow UN peacekeepers to remain in the country because hundreds of thousands of displaced people would be vulnerable to attack if they left.
“Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable civilians would be exposed to increased attacks by Chadian armed opposition groups, irregular militias, criminal gangs and members of the Chadian security forces, if MINURCAT were to leave,” said Tawanda Hondora, Africa deputy director at Amnesty International.
The Chadian government has said the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad must leave Chad when its mandate expires on March 15, arguing that the force has failed its mandate.
MINURCAT has been deployed to eastern Chad to protect and enable humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of refugees from across the border in Sudan’s western Darfur region and internally displaced persons that have sought shelter in the area.
The rights group said “attacks on humanitarian workers and civilians, which reached alarming levels in the last months of 2009, have begun to decrease as MINURCAT soldiers have been able to carry out patrols in sensitive areas they were previously unable to patrol.
“The Chadian government has the responsibility and duty to protect its own population and other persons living on its territory but for many years it has shown itself incapable and unwilling to do so with respect to eastern Chad,” the statement said.
Amnesty International said it also fears that humanitarian agencies might be forced to shut down their operations if MINURCAT were to pull out.
In January, Chad asked the UN Security Council not to renew the peacekeepers’ mandate.
Following that, a UN technical mission travelled to Chad to discuss the matter with the authorities.
On Monday, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the force, which has been delayed in getting up to full strength, had not been a failure.
“It is highly visible and it is actively establishing its presence throughout the area of operations through the conduct of long and short-range patrols and the escort of humanitarian actors,” he said.
But Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno reiterated on Monday that he wants to end MINURCAT’s mission.
—Agencies